KONSOFCOM - Konoha's Special Forces
by TheReaper999
Summary: KONSOFCOM was the name given to the group of the most elite shinobi that Konoha had to offer. Their leader? A reincarnated SOF commander. Ken Uzumaki, Naruto's blood brother, combines modern-day military tactics with the versatility of chakra and revolutionizes the shinobi world. (There may be some mistakes and inconsistencies in here. Editing in progress. PM me is you find any.)
1. Prologue

TheReaper999 here with another Naruto fic. I noticed that there are barely any fics with modern world military components in them so I just wanted to try this out. Let me know what you think in the reviews!

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Prologue

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Ethan "Neo" Hunt. He was nicknamed Neo by his comrades because he could "dodge bullets in slow motion".

Born and raised in Canada.

Graduated from university with a bachelor's in computer and mechanical engineering.

Worked for Canadian Security Intelligence Service for five years. Got bored and quit.

Joined the RCMP Special Emergency Response Team. Got bored after three years.

Joined the military. Got drafted into Joint Task Force Two.

Became Commander of CANSOFCOM (Canadian Special Operations Forces Command).

Retired at age of 45.

Joined the CSE (Communications Security Establishment).

Died at age 60. Cause of Death: Died while saving a little girl who fell on the train tracks.

Anyone can see that Ethan led an extraordinary life. Though if you ask him, he'd just say that he merely went wherever he found fun. There were also no redeeming features about the guy. He had good looks, but that was almost every soldier in the unit, males and females included. The only thing that stood out about Ethan: **He did not like to be praised.** Did he expect anything extraordinary to happen to him after death? No. No, he didn't. Did something extraordinary to happen to him after death? No… Unless you call reincarnation extraordinary. And not just merely reincarnation. He was in a world where children started killing at the age of twelve, where people had weird-ass eyes, and where powers that could cause natural disasters were nothing new. That's why when his eyes opened for the first time in this world, his first sentence was-

"What the actual fuck?"

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 **1 Year Old**

 _Man, babies sure do sleep a lot. Hah… Fuck, this is boring. I wonder if I can get my hands on something fun. Ah, maybe later. I'm tired._

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 **2 Years Old**

 _Okay, it looks like I'm two years old now if the big ass 2 on the birthday cake is anything to go by. Now let's sort out what I know:_

 _My name is Ken Uzumaki. An orphan. (The reason seems to be a giant animal that attacked this place.)_

 _I have red hair and violet eyes. (DAMN SON, I LOOK LIKE A SUPERHERO!)_

 _I can run but not too fast. (FUCKING BABY FEET)_

 _This world is not as advanced as… Earth? Hell, I don't even know what it's called._

 _Guns don't exist. (FUUCCKKKK)_

 _There is some sort of a natural energy in the humans' bodies. I believe they call it "Chakra". (A cheap substitute for our weapons.)_

Ken put his thoughts on hold as all the kids continued with the birthday party. Everyone seemed to be playing and enjoying. Ken was also playing with the other kids. Even though he was technically a 60 years old man in a kid's body. Even when Ken used to be Ethan, he always went to where the fun was. Young or old. If shit gets boring, he was out. That's why he never felt shy of playing like a little child.

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 **3 Years Old**

 _Damn. Time passes fast. Though at least I know how to read and write by now. These guys… they don't speak English (No shit, Sherlock) but the language is awfully familiar. Ah, whatever._

 _Life just keeps going normally. Same old, boring routine. Wake up, eat, study, eat, play, do some chores, eat, sleep, repeat. Though one thing did catch my attention though. A kid. Blond hair, blue eyes, typical American look. Except, he seems to have three whisker marks on each cheek. I don't know if they're real whiskers or they're just markings. I wanna touch em._

 _Another thing that stood out is that he always seems to have some kind of guard protection. There's always a guy (or girl, idk if she's just flat) in grey body armour and a weird ass mask watching over the kid from the corner. Every week is a different guard, though the only way to tell them apart is by the mask, or by the hair._

 _One guy had long black hair in a ponytail. The other guy had white (or silver) hair that stood up on one side. There was this other guy who had normal short black hair but eyes that were… like glowing red or some shit. And lastly, there was this one girl with purple hair. It actually looked nice. Even though I can see them, it seems no one else seems to notice them, not even the older caretakers. I just act like I don't see them either. Best not to attract attention._

 _What else is that no one seems to like the kid. I think his name was… uh… shit, it started with an 'N'. He has the same last name as me: Uzumaki. I wonder if we're related though. The name says yes, but the genetics say no. Ah well, who cares. Family gotta stick together right? He also always seems to be alone, I tried approaching him multiple times, but was always pulled back by the caretakers. I saw him this morning too. Poor guy seemed so lonely. And hungry. You can almost see his ribs. I'll try to sneak him some food tonight._

That night, Ken stayed up until late – which was really hard to do since it was still a child's body (even though he was exercising every night) – and watched under the door until the light went off. He then counted to 3600 and silently pulled out a bag of some snacks from under his bed.

Ken tiptoed his way towards the door and opened it swiftly. There was a slight air current but no creaking. _Holy shit. Thank heavens_ , he thought in relief. Ken made his way to the blonde's room silently while avoiding all the creaks and everything in the hallways. He finally reached the outside and again, opened the door swiftly. He silently entered the room and surveyed it, remembering his JTF2 training. As always, the masked guard was watching over the blonde again, but this time, the guard's eyes seemed to follow Ken. He closed the door being him and walked over to the kid's bed.

"Hey, kid. Wake up." Ken said not too loud, but loud enough to be heard. "Oi!" he shook the blonde with some force.

"Huh?" the kid finally woke up. "Who?"

"It's me, Ken." The blonde looked around warily.

"W-What do you want?"

"Are you hungry?"

"Huh?"

"I said: 'are you hungry?' You were looking at everyone eating dinner today like you never got any in days. The caretaker told us you already ate, but I don't really believe that." Ken explained.

"Yes. I'm hungry. I didn't get to eat in the afternoon or night." The blonde said, looking down.

Ken really did feel sorry for the kid. He seemed so nice. _Why the fuck are those bitches telling us to stay away from him?_ Ken lifted his hand and put it on the blonde kid's head. He playfully ruffled his bed head and smiled. "Well, make a hole. I got food." He said.

"Huh?"

"Make a hole. Meaning move over or make some space. I sneaked some chow from dinner today for you." The blonde's face lit up with a million-watt smile and he nodded enthusiastically as he moved over.

Ken climbed onto the bed and handed over the food bag. "By the way, what's your name?"

"I'm Naruto Uzumaki," Naruto said while already inhaling the food. Ken nodded.

"Well, I'm Ken Uzumaki," Ken answered as he kept an eye on Naruto to gauge his reaction. There was nothing. "I guess you're my brother or something, eh?" he tried. That definitely got Naruto to notice him.

"Huh? How?" Naruto looked at Ken questioningly.

"Well we got the same last names, so like… yeah. And people with same last names are usually related. So yeah, I guess we're brothers." Naruto looked at him wide-eyed, forgetting the food completely.

"Cool!" he shouted as he jumped to embrace Ken. Ken was a little surprised at this. Naruto making such intimate physical contact with someone he met so recently showed just how much he was neglected. They held each other for a minute before Naruto let go and went back to eating. Once again, Naruto broke the silence. "Did you know our parents, Ken?"

"Nah. I'm also an orphan just like you. But they said that our parents died because some giant animal attacked." Seeing Naruto depressed expression tugged at Ken's heartstrings. "Hey, at least we have each other, right?" And once more, as if a switch was flipped, Naruto's face lit up with a smile.

"Hai, Nii-san!" Naruto answered happily and went back to munching on the food.

"'Nii-san', huh? I think I like that," Ken replied with a small smile on his face.

Eventually, Naruto finished eating and went to sleep as Ken tucked his little brother in. Little did Ken know, this small bond would grow into something even the gods couldn't break.

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And done. Please review!


	2. Chapter 1

Man, I hoped I'd get at least a few reviews on the prologue. But whatever I guess. Here's another chapter!

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Chapter 1

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 **4 Years Old**

About a year had passed since Ken had secretly given Naruto food at night. Since then, their bond had only gotten stronger. During the day, they acted like they didn't know each other at all, but at night they would be like real brothers. Ken would always come over to Naruto's room every night with food and toys to play. They'd play well into the night and sometimes even sleep together in Naruto's bed. Though Ken would always leave right before the sun rose so that the caretakers never got suspicious.

Now, because of Naruto, Ken had also become acquainted with the nice old man that always came over. They all called him "Hokage-sama" but Naruto and Ken always called him "Jiji". Ken could tell the old man was suspicious of Ken at first, but over time, both the kids had become like grandchildren to him.

With observation, Ken had also deduced that this was basically a military state. There were soldiers – or "Shinobi" as they called them – jumping from place to place all over the city. Apparently, there were also ranks here. From all the books that Ken read, he had really learned a lot.

Genin was the lowest. This position seemed to mostly be held by kids and preteens.

Chunin was next. The average age of the chunin seemed to be between 15 to 20.

Jounin was the highest. These people were strong. Most of the jounin seemed around 25 but of course, there were exceptions.

Then there was the ANBU. The elite. The "Spec Ops" of this world. These were the only ones who had a different uniform. Grey body armour and a mask that was supposed to represent an animal.

Ken had also read about three legendary shinobi called the Sannin. The book described each one as extremely powerful – a one-man army.

Then, above all, was the Hokage. Well actually, it was the Kage, but there were five superpowers in this world and so the Kage for Konohagakure was called the Hokage. Like that, there was the Kazekage for Sunagakure, Raikage for Kumogakure, Tsuchikage for Iwagakure, and Mizukage for Kirigakure.

The last and most important thing that Ken figured out was their own identity. He had gone through a lot of history books and had researched the Uzumaki clan. Good with seals, long lifespan, fucking massive reserves of chakra. Combine all that with the fact that he and Naruto were born on the same day that the village was attacked, AND some people seemed to whisper "demons" behind their backs easily gave him so many answers. Ken used to work for CSIS. He wasn't just fucking around. His observation skills were on par with the best of the Kage-level shinobi.

Ken and Naruto had something to do with the Nine-Tailed Fox that attacked. His conclusion: Most likely, it was sealed inside them. Of course, it took Ken a few weeks to get his get wrapped around the fundamentals of sealing, but eventually, he got it. Just a few days ago, he had in fact picked up a book about sealing. After all, if it was something related to his little brother, he'd learn it all.

That was what led to their current predicament.

"So, you're telling me that the head caretaker in the orphanage kicked you both out because she thought you were capable of handling yourselves?" asked the Hokage skeptically.

"That's what she said to us, but I think she just hates us both for some reason." Answered Ken frowning as he fidgeted from his place in front of the Hokage's desk.

"Yeah, Jiji! She's a mean lady! She also doesn't give me food sometimes and I have to sleep hungry," he answered with his eyes down, but quickly perked up, "but Ken-nii-san always sneaks some of the food for me and we eat it in my room at night!" He added with a bright smile.

"Oh… is that so, Naruto-kun? Is that true, Ken-kun?" the Hokage asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Hai, Jii-san. I usually steal some food from the cabinets and take it to Naruto's room at night."

"And why haven't I heard about this before?" the Hokage asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Ken-nii-san told me not to tell anyone," Naruto answered before Ken could speak up.

"Ken?"

"I didn't want you to worry yourself over us, Jiji. You already do so much for us, and by looking at all that paperwork, I can tell you barely have time to even relax. I just didn't want to add to your burden anymore." Ken replied apologetically.

The Hokage's features softened and a small smile surfaced. He got up from his seat and made his way to the blonde and the redhead. He kneeled down to their level and engulfed them both in his warm arms. They stayed like that for a few moments before the Hokage broke the hug.

"Ken, Naruto, I would never see you two as a burden. I see you both as my own grandchildren. If you have any problems at all, I would like that you always come to me first. Now promise me. If anything like this happens ever again, you'll come to me first." The Hokage got a stern look in his eyes.

Ken nodded, "Alright Jiji, we promise," Ken said, while beside him, Naruto nodded fervently.

"Good. Now let's solve this problem of ours," said the Hokage but was cut off by Ken.

"Um… actually Jiji, I have to talk to you about something."

"Sure, what is it?"

"Can we send Naruto out first, please?" Ken asked.

"Aww, Ken-nii-san! Why do I have to go out?" Naruto asked while pouting. Ken reached out and ruffled Naruto's hair as he simply smiled.

"I'll take you to Ichiraku's tonight if you do," Ken offered. It seemed to have worked as Naruto quickly let out an enthusiastic 'WHOO!' and jumped out of his chair towards the door.

"You better keep your promise Nii-san!" Naruto shouted as he exited the office. Hiruzen and Ken both chuckled at the little blonde's enthusiasm. The mood quickly got serious as the Hokage then turned towards the redhead.

"Now, what was so important that Naruto-kun couldn't listen in?" the Hokage asked curiously.

Ken sighed, "The other day, I saw one of the caretakers put some sort of white powder in Naruto's food." The Hokage immediately tensed up. "I saw that and switched my plate with his so that if anything happened, it'd happen to me, not him. Then, while eating – well I didn't really eat a single bite – but yeah, while 'eating' I 'accidentally' dropped my plate on the floor. Of course, I got scolded harshly, but that's not the point. What happened after was what caught my attention."

Hiruzen's emotions were fluctuating wildly. He had gone from angry to surprised to proud to worried and now he was again curious. "What happened?" he asked in an emotionless voice.

"That day we were eating lunch outdoors. So, when my food spilled on the ground, a stray cat ate a little bit of it and ran off. The next day… the cat was dead." And now again, the Hokage was absolutely livid. "That's not all, Jiji. I'd say, every single caretaker has attempted to take either Naruto's or my life at least once. If I wasn't there, he might just be dead by now." At that moment, the Hokage looked into Ken eyes and saw what no child should have in their eyes. Pain, suffering, neglect, and the simplest emotion of all: sadness. But it wasn't just sadness… it was a sadness that never stopped. Hiruzen had never felt more unfit to be called Hokage.

"Hyou, Tora." Hiruzen called out as two ANBU appeared out of nowhere. His voice took a steely edge. "Hyou, tell Ibiki to clear up his schedule. Tora, I want every single caretaker in that orphanage to be taken to him. Handle them with **extreme** prejudice."

"Hai, Hokage-sama!" they acknowledged in chorus as both shinobi flickered out of the office.

Hiruzen sighed and spoke once again, "Well, let's get you both back to there and we'll fix this up in no time."

Ken spoke up once again. "Four years ago, the Kyuubi attacked the village."

The seemingly random statement caught the Hokage off-guard as his eyes widened for a fraction of a second. It was so quick, Ken felt like he had just imagined it.

"The Yondaime Hokage, Minato Namikaze, killed it but in the process, he also lost his life."

"And how do you know about this, Ken-kun?"

"History books, Jiji. I've read so much since I first learned to read y'know. So, as I was saying, the Yondiame killed it. But in another book, it said that Bijuu are merely chakra constructs that can't be killed." The Hokage's eyes finally showed resignation. "In another book, it said they can also be sealed into people and be used as weapons… The Kyuubi is sealed inside Naruto, isn't it?"

The Hokage sighed once more. "Yes. Yes, it is. I truly am impressed that you figured it out."

"It's really not that impressive. We've taken baths together and I've seen that huge complicated seal on his stomach."

"Ken, I hope you understand that Naruto isn't a monster." Ken laughed at that, which prompted the Hokage to raise an eyebrow. "Did I say anything funny?"

"Jiji, Naruto is my brother and just another human being. Anyone who calls him a monster won't be found the next day." Ken finished with a genuine smile which sent shivers up and down the Hokage's body.

"Well, I'm glad you understand that. You are officially more mature than seventy percent of this village. But. This is an S-class secret. Which means,"

"That if I reveal it to anyone, I'll be killed. Yes, I know, Jiji. I read it in a book." He added at the end, seeing Hiruzen's confused face.

"Hmm. Okay well. Is that all?" Hiruzen asked. This had been a long day for him. Now he still had to find more staff for the orphanage. Goddammit.

"Jiji, no matter how many times you change the staff, I don't think that way they see us will change. I was hoping that Naruto and I could have our own apartment. It doesn't even have to be big. Just safe. Please?" Ken looked at him with pleading eyes.

The Hokage seemed to be weighing the pros and cons in his head. It would be harder for two kids alone, but it would also be much safer. And seeing how mature Ken was already. There'd be no problem at all. He could give them both a monthly allowance and assign an ANBU guard.

"Very well, Ken-kun. By the end of the week, I'll have an apartment ready for the two of you."

Ken smiled, "Thank you, Jiji."

* * *

A week had passed and, true to his word, the Hokage had arranged for a small apartment for Naruto and Ken to live in.

Currently, Ken was leading a blindfolded Naruto by the hand towards their new apartment. He hadn't told anyone about this. No one knew, other than Ken and the Hokage.

"Ne, Nii-san. Where are we going? We've been walking for soooo long!" Naruto whined.

"Just a bit more, Naruto. Trust me, you'll like it."

"If you say so…" Naruto accepted.

In a few minutes, both brothers were standing in front of a small apartment.

"Okay! We're here! Take off your blindfold!" Naruto did as he was told.

"Huh? Where are we, Nii-san?" Naruto asked inquisitively.

"Our new home."

"What?" Naruto went wide-eyed. _N-No way…_ were his thoughts as his brain struggled to process the information.

"Yep! No more angry caretakers. No more bullies. No more dirty showers. No more skipping meals. Aaand, we get to play together anytime we want!" Ken said with a bright smile on his face.

Naruto's lower lip quivered as his eyes started to water. "N-Nii-san…" he said, trying to hold back the dam of tears.

"You know last week how we met up with Jiji, and I told you to go outside while I talked to him? Well, I told him all about how you were being treated there, and he agreed to give us our own place to live.

Naruto looked down and his hair hid his eyes. Ken couldn't see his eyes, but he could tell Naruto was crying. It was quite obvious with the tears rolling down his cheeks and dripping from his chin. His mouth wasn't a smile or a frown. It was hard to tell what he was thinking, so Ken, for a moment actually thought that Naruto wasn't happy.

"You… You don't like it?" Ken asked.

If Ken's training in his past life wasn't so intense, he'd totally have said that Naruto teleported, because that's exactly what it looked like when the blonde ball of sunshine launched himself towards his brother and wrapped his arms around him.

"Thank you! Thank you so much, Nii-san! I love you!" Naruto said hugging Ken tighter and tighter while sobbing into the crook of his neck.

For a moment Ken was taken aback by this sudden action but he quickly regained his composure and hugged Naruto back while rubbing his back. "Hehe," Ken chuckled. "Anything for my little brother."

The duo stayed like that for a while before finally breaking apart and moving into their new home. It was small but spacious, had one bedroom, one bathroom, one living room, and a kitchen. The bedroom consisted of two beds, two tables, and two chairs. The kitchen had a refrigerator, a gas stove, two sinks, and an island countertop. The living was pretty simple; one three-seater sofa, one loveseat, and a coffee table. It already had all their stuff moved in and anything else they might need.

The rest of their day was spent remodeling the new living space and going out to buy food for the two of them. Being the responsible one meant that Ken had to be the one to cook and clean. He'd make sure that Naruto focused on his training instead. There was no doubt in his mind that Naruto would become a shinobi. With the Kyuubi in him, he was meant to be a weapon from birth… but that didn't mean Ken would allow anyone to treat him as one. They have to step over his dead body before anyone got their filthy little hands on his little brother.

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Hiruzen Sarutobi had a smile on his face as he watched from his crystal ball. He knew, both the Uzumakis would grow up to be the strongest in the world.

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 **5 Years Old**

A generic looking brown-haired, brown-eyed boy sighed as he walked away from the local grocery store with both hands full of bags. When he was an acceptable distance away, he finally dropped the henge to reveal a five-year-old boy with bright red hair and violet eyes.

Ken had learned the henge technique about ten months back when he finally realized that he was being charged almost three times the average price for any and all goods. It looked like the hate was spread throughout the village, and he could do nothing about it. When enough was enough, he ultimately went to the Hokage to complain and asked him to show Ken the henge that he had seen many shinobi use multiple times.

That was also when the Hokage learned that Ken has already accessed his chakra and had learned the henge in merely three tries. Konohagakure had gained one more prodigy.

After that, both boys used every night to learn something. Ken taught Naruto math (it seemed that no matter where math was the same), and how to use chakra. When he had time, Ken read as many books as possible to learn as much as possible about this world. In just a few months, Ken and Naruto had already finished two years worth of Academy curriculum.

Ken knew: if the villagers were this hostile towards them, there's no saying how hostile the shinobi would be. He expected them to be more understanding since obviously, they would know about seals and everything, but in the back of his mind, there was that little pessimistic voice saying, " **better be safe than sorry** ". That's why he figured, while Naruto would be the bright optimist of the two – always looking for the bright side of things, he'd be the dark pessimist. How bad could it be? After all, being a pessimist meant that you're either always correct, or always pleasantly surprised. And it was also a good balance to have at home.

Home… that was another thing. Ken could now call this place home. There were posters all over the walls – mostly Naruto's. There was a cabinet full of instant ramen – also Naruto's. Blunted practice kunai and shuriken scattered all over the floor – also mostly Naruto's. Wait… now that he thought about it, what the hell was his? Oh… right… Bookshelves upon bookshelves of, well, books. **Lots** of them. All the way from geography, history, politics, cooking, different types of trades, to tactics, chakra theory, training manuals, to even some recreational books like adventure, romance, and… *ahem* adult romance (which was under his bed – yes, he was only five but he still had the mind of a… fuck… let's call it the mind of a young adult).

Finally, there was the Hokage. Naruto had made it his life goal to become the Hokage. Sarutobi-Jiji had been the loving family member they never had, but Ken just couldn't shake off the feeling that he knew something. Multiple times when Naruto and Ken had asked questions about their heritage, the Hokage had denied having any knowledge, but Ken had a good 60 years of experience dealing with terrorists, criminals, and other enemies of the state. He could read a person just from one look, and the Hokage's behaviour was basically screaming 'your parentage is very important, and I know all about it but I'm not going to tell you'. In the end, he just gave and thought, _if Jiji feels that it's best we don't know about it, then who are we to argue?_

And Ken and Naruto went on with their normal lives… well, as normal as possible for a jinchuuriki and a reincarnated soldier.

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So? What do you guys think? I'll make Ken invent guns a bit later. The story will follow mostly canon but it will diverge from canon at some points and eventually it will become its own universe… Hopefully.

Next chapter: 8 years old. Academy starts.


	3. Chapter 2

**This took a very long time to do, mainly because I have so much planned for this fic, and I don't really know how I'll integrate it with canon. Eventually, it will probably diverge from canon, but that's a long time into the future. For now, Enjoy the ride, and don't forget to review!**

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Chapter 2

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 **8 Years Old**

"Yes! C'mon Nii-san! We're gonna be late!" shouted Naruto, already standing outside waiting for his brother.

Today was the first day of Academy. The Hokage had finally let them enroll after months of begging. What took so long? One simple question: 'Why do you want to become a shinobi?'

While Ken got the Hokage's approval at once, it took Naruto a long time to realize there was more to being a shinobi than just 'cool and flashy jutsus'.

Ken's answer had been, "Because I want to protect my brother; the only way to do that is to become and stay as strong or stronger than him. And with him wanting to become Hokage, I'm going to have a hell of a time keeping up."

The Hokage was very pleased to see how confident Ken was in his brother's abilities and how he held no doubt at all that Naruto would one day become Hokage.

Naruto's answer had been, "I want to be the strongest Hokage ever and protect all my precious people!" Short, but concise. It would be easy to laugh at and dismiss, had it come from any other child, but the sheer determination in his eyes was enough to leave both Ken and the Hokage breathless for a few seconds.

Getting back on track, today was the first day to Academy and Naruto was just short of exploding with energy as opposed to his clam, collected, and a little sleepy counterpart. Ken had to stay up late last night to make sure everything was in order. Naruto was asleep and that was when his CANSOFCOM Commander mode turned on. It had looked as if he was preparing for a high-risk mission.

Ken got his bag and walked out of their home, locking the door behind him. Honestly, the lock wasn't even needed as no one in the whole village save for the Hokage and a few ANBU ever wanted to go anywhere near the 'Demon's Residence'. "Sure, Naruto. Let's go," Ken said, his face showing a small smile and reached up and ruffled Naruto's hair. That habit hadn't particularly worn off and Naruto loved the attention. Every nanosecond of it.

Their trip to the Academy was a novel experience. This was the first time in months that the two had walked down the streets without a henge and the looks they got were… not nice. While Naruto kept humming happily and walking with a bounce in his step, Ken could tell he knew about the glares directed at them. Naruto was merely choosing to ignore them. In the back of his mind, Ken fervently prayed to whatever deity existed that the Academy teachers would be unbiased and wouldn't sabotage their education. Sadly, it seemed like no deity loved them enough to give a shit.

Naruto and Ken walked through the entrance of the Academy and into the classroom, all the while ignoring the glares, sneers, and the whispers. Ken sighed. Man, what the fuck? No kid is supposed to have a childhood like this. Naruto deserves so much better. Hell, they're lucky he hasn't turned into a homicidal psychopath yet! Ken thought as they sat at the second last bench in the classroom.

* * *

Somewhere in Suna, a boy with red hair – much like Ken's – sneezed, accidentally triggered his Sand Coffin and killing the man. "Uh… oops?" he said as he turned around and walked away.

* * *

Class began shortly after, as the teacher walked in and introduced himself. "Good morning, everyone! My, my, it's so nice to see so many new faces here! My name is Iruka Umino, and I will be your homeroom teacher for the next four years. Now, why don't we go around the class and hear everyone's name?" he pointed to a girl with pink hair, "Why don't you start, and we'll go towards the left."

The pink-haired girl stood up shyly and spoke, "H-Hello, my name is Sakura Haruno." And she quickly sat down again. Hmm… Looks like a civilian. Hopefully, she understands what being a soldie- shinobi is all about, Ken thought to himself.

The girl beside stood up. Ken watched as her long blonde hair flowed, "I'm Ino Yamanaka, of the Yamanaka clan!" The mind techniques clan, huh? That's pretty damn dangerous. I'll have to stay away from her… or I'll have to get close to her, then seduce her, and then learn the secrets to become immune from her techniques. Can't have her finding out about me, He eyed her cautiously.

A few civilians introduced themselves before the turn came for another clan heir. "Kiba Inuzuka, of the Inuzika clan, and this is my partner Akamaru!" he exclaimed as the small puppy poked it's head out from under Kiba's hood and yipped. Interesting… the human and dog can actually understand one another. Ken had read books about their abilities but seeing it in person was a completely different thing.

A plump boy next to him rose. "Choji Akimichi, of the Akimichi clan!" and she sat down again, going back to munching on his chips. Converting calories to energy… Damn, if we had this secret on earth, there'd be no fat people! Ken snickered at his own thoughts and received a questioning look from Naruto.

The next boy stood up… not. He was sleeping. On the first day. Less than half an hour into class. Ah! Ken thought, the Nara clan. I know they're lazy as fuck, but seriously? This is too much. But they're all geniuses, huh? Gotta be wary of that one. Shikamaru finished his introduction, much to his chagrin and went back to dozing off.

A few more civilian introductions later, the boy that Ken had been eyeing curiously spoke. "Sasuke Uchiha." Oh… so that's him. Damn, I guess getting your whole family killed by the one person you look up to can do that to you. Though Ken had seen Itachi Uchiha a few times and he didn't seem like a psychopath in the slightest. Hell, if anything, I'd say the man was a pacifist if my observation skills aren't diminishing. Ken's observational skills were on par with that of Sherlock Holmes and that had been one of the main reasons why he had never failed once on any infiltration missions in his past life.

Sasuke's introduction was also followed by squeals of delight and thirsty looks from many of the girls in the class and Ken gaped for a second. Immediately, he shut his mouth and pondered, Riiiight. I guess they are at that age where they find mysterious and cold boys attractive. Well, shit. Seducing the Yamanaka is going to be a bit hard with this. He turned to speak to Naruto to inform him to not say too much in his introduction but was surprised to find him glaring at the  
Uchiha. Ken understood why Naruto was feeling that way but thought it best to break him out of his habit of wearing his emotions on his sleeve.

"Calm down, bro. He's not like that on purpose. He just got his whole clan killed by his brother." Ken said in a low voice throwing a sympathetic look towards Sasuke. Though he didn't really feel anything for the little Uchiha.

"Yeah, but that still doesn't give him the right to be disrespectful of our sensei," Naruto said with a glare directed towards Sasuke.

"You're right and I completely agree; but as of this moment, it's none of our business. Now, as I was planning to tell you, don't say a lot during your introduction. Only your name and one other insignificant detail. Remember what I taught you about the most important rule of being a shinobi?"

Naruto nodded. "Secrecy and deception are our left and right hands!" he said in a whisper. Ken smiled and ruffled Naruto's hair in reply.

"Good job!" Again, Naruto smiled brightly.

Next, a boy with a long coat and sunglasses stood up. "Shino Aburame, of the Aburame clan." And sat back down. With all that Ken had studied, he had found the least information about the Aburame clan. Only that they had colonies of bugs inside their bodies.

It was finally their bench's turn. The beautiful girl with the pretty eyes stood up shyly and spoke, "H-Hinata Hyuuga, o-of the Hyuuga c-clan." And she quickly sat back down.

Naruto stood up next. "Naruto Uzumaki!" he exclaimed out loud. "And I'm going to be the future Hokage 'ttebayo!" And he sat back down. The class was a bit silent as they weren't exactly sure how to react to that.

Before anything could happen, Ken quickly introduced himself. "Ken Uzumaki. Naruto's older brother." He said with a practiced disarming smile. With that, all introductions were finished, and they finally began class.

* * *

 **10 Years Old**

In two years, Ken had managed to redesign the whole concept of "guns" and had come up with something that could be used without gunpowder. The design and structure of a common revolver had been extremely easy, and he had finished that within 6 months. What took him the most time, was redesigning the cartridge (the primer, the propellant, the bullet). As an Academy student, he didn't have access to gunpowder. Hell, he didn't even know if it existed. Even if he wanted to find out, there was no way he could ask the Hokage. The Hokage would be even more suspicious.

Why 'even more' you ask? A simple mistake on Ken's part. What was the mistake?

Mathematics.

It was incredibly stupid of Ken to just assume that just because they had the same number system here, that they'd also have the same advancements in mathematics. His assumptions had been flipped upside down when he had solved a math problem using advanced calculus derivation techniques. The principal of the Academy and the Hokage had called him in and asked him to explain what he had done and how he had gotten such a precise answer. Of course, they didn't believe him when he said he just made up the techniques he had used but it wasn't like they could prove otherwise. Though Ken did have to go through the whole explanation multiple times before they got it. His thoughts then had been: Well, shit. Guess I just 'invented' advanced math here, huh?

Now we find ourselves back at the original problem. How to propel a bullet at speeds of over 800 m/s? Well, a typical cartridge has a primer, which ignites the propellant, which generates an incredible amount of gas, which in turn propels the bullet at speeds ranging from 2000 km/h to 4500 km/h. Ken thought 3000 km/h would be a good enough speed. So now, the problem came up. How did this world use explosives? Right… Fuinjutsu… Fucking hell, I'm gonna have to learn a whole new programming language all over again.

And that's how Ken found himself in Konoha's Shinobi Archives looking for books about seals. He found some very basic introductory ones and checked them all out. This was going to be a long night.

* * *

It turned out that learning sealing techniques wasn't really that hard. Mostly because the concepts were so similar to object-oriented programming, and Ken, being a computer engineer, knew a lot of programming languages. Within a week, Ken had finished up three volumes of sealing, so now he officially knew how to make storage seals, explosion seals, and chakra suppression seals. He wanted to learn more, but all the high-level knowledge was forbidden to civilians. Hell, the only reason he even got three volumes was because the archivist knew how close he was to the Hokage.

Hmm… How do I get access? Should I sneak in…? Nah… They'll find out way too easily. I can't possibly hope to hide from ANBU. At least not at the level I'm at right now. Can't ask Jiji cuz then he'll ask what I'm trying to do… Ken thought back to all the lessons he learned from his time in his past life. Politics… Equivalent Exchange. I guess I can try that…

* * *

"Morning, Jiji!" Ken called out as he walked into the Hokage's office. Hiruzen looked up from his paperwork and immediately smiled upon seeing Ken's face.

"Ah, good morning Ken-kun. How are you doing?" the Hokage asked.

"Meh. What about you?"

"Oh, you know how it is. Paperwork, paperwork, and oh! Look! More paperwork!" Hiruzen grumbled. Ken laughed hard, seeing one of the most shinobi to have lived cursing out mere paperwork. "Well, what can I help you with?"

"You see, Jiji, I already finished the first three volumes of Fuinjutsu theory. It wasn't that difficult, so I tried looking for more, but I can't find any anywhere. Can you please help me with that?"

The Hokage blinked. "You… finished the first three volumes?"

"Uh-huh!" Ken nodded innocently. He felt bad about manipulating his Jiji like this, but it was necessary.

"And you found it easy?" Hiruzen asked again with a raised eyebrow.

"Yep!" Ken smiled and nodded once more.

"Wow. Well, that's very impressive Ken-kun. But the reason you can't find any more volumes is because access to them is restricted to only chunin and above." The Hokage explained.

"Oh…" Ken said lowly and looked extremely downtrodden.

"But," the Hokage started again. "If you can pass the Level 3 Sealmaster exam, I'll allow you access to volumes 4, 5, and 6. How is that?"

Ken looked up disbelievingly. "R-Really, Jiji? You'd let me?" he asked with hope in his eyes. Please don't change your mind! I don't wanna use underhanded methods! Ken thought.

"Of course, Ken-kun. The next exam will be held two weeks later. Do you think you'll be prepared by then?" asked Hiruzen.

"Hell yeah! I could write it right now even!" Ken exclaimed. He truly was overjoyed. This way the gun might just be working by the time he graduates the academy.

After sorting out all the details and registering for the exams, Ken finally reached the apartment. "I'm home!" he called out.

No answer. Huh? Where the hell is Naruto?

"Naruto?" Still no answer.

Ken walked around, looking for his little brother in every single room and finally concluded he wasn't at home. Where could he possibly be? Ken thought. He turned his head to look at the window and it struck him. Of course, where else would he go when he's sad.

* * *

As Ken walked towards the Yondaime's head on the Hokage monument, he spotted the familiar little mop of blonde hair that he'd come to love over the years. Naruto was sitting on the Yondaime's head with his knees pulled up to his chest and arms wrapped around them. His head was half buried in his knees and he seemed to be in deep thought. Ken's heart utterly broke when he saw the expression on Naruto's face. No ten-year-old should look like that, shinobi or not.

Ken slowly sneaked behind Naruto and wrapped his arms around the blonde. "Nii-san!?" Naruto jumped, but Ken held him down, concentrating chakra in the soles of his shoes to stay stuck on the ground.

"What's wrong, Naruto?" Ken asked.

"N-Nothing! I was just looking out at the village." Naruto tried to wave Ken concern off.

"Naruto," Ken began in a soft voice. "I know I may not be the best brother, and you may not like me at times, but I want you to know that I'll walk through hell and back for you if it means keeping you safe. I want you to trust me, Naruto."

Naruto was wide-eyed. He whirled around and faced Ken. "What!? NO! You're the best brother anyone can possibly ask for Ken-nii-san. I love you! Always have! You're my most important person, Nii-san! And I… I do trust you. I've never not trusted you. It's just… I've seen how hard you work for us, and I can't even do that much. I feel… I don't know! I just don't like it! I want to do more! I want to help you, and I want you to rely on me. And I can't even help you with the small stuff. I can't even go out to help you with chores because the villagers hate me. Why, Nii-san?"

Naruto jumped forwards and hugged his brother tightly. He buried his face in Ken's shirt. "Why, Nii-san?" Naruto's voice cracked at the end. He sobbed into Ken's chest unceasingly, hands clutching at his shirt. He held him in silence, rocking him slowly as his tears soaked his chest. A tiny lapse let him pull away, blinking lashes heavy with tears, before he collapsed again, his howls of misery worsening. The pain must have come in waves, minutes of sobbing broken apart by short pauses for recovering breaths, before hurling him back into the outstretched arms of his grief. "Why do they hate me so much, Nii-san? Am I a monster? Did I do something bad?"

Ken had never in his life cried. Even when he used to be Ethan 'Neo' Hunt, the last time he had cried was maybe because of an injury when he was in grade 7. He was the very definition of apathy, bordering on completely emotionless, and he would have been, had it not been for two emotions that he did hold. Loyalty, and Love. Being born in this world had left him truly emotionless… until that night. That night when Naruto had called him 'Nii-san'. That was the first spark that ignited the tinder of love. But now, seeing the child he called his brother break down so badly was enough to spark the other emotion, Loyalty. Ken held Naruto even tighter and mentally swore. His loyalty was towards Naruto forever.

Eventually, the shaking had calmed down and Ken looked down to see Naruto fast asleep. He leaned down and planted a love filled kiss on Naruto's forehead. "Naruto," Ken pulled a Kunai from his back pocket. One he usually kept for protection in case someone decided to take chances with his brother. He pulled it up to his other hand and cut a deep slit into. He clenched the hand and let the blood drop on the sleeping boy's forehead, "on my blood, I take an oath. No matter when or where. No harm shall come to you under my watch."

Ken carried Naruto bridal style back to their home and put him to sleep.

* * *

 **Another chapter finished. Please review and advise me on how I can improve! Thank you!**


	4. Chapter 3

New chapter! It's actually pretty fun writing this! Anyway, before you begin reading, let me just clear a few things up.

Naruto and Ken are exactly the same age, but Naruto sees Ken as an older brother. That's the only reason he calls Ken 'Nii-san'.

I mentioned in Chapter 1 that Ken observed that the Kyuubi was sealed inside both Ken and Naruto. That was merely an observation of Ken. He's going to use his observation skills a lot, but that doesn't mean that he will always be right. The Kyuubi is only sealed inside Naruto. BUT… that doesn't mean that Ken doesn't have something special about himself. You'll just have to wait for future chapters to find out!

Also, Naruto is not as dumb or as weak as in canon, but:

\- He has ADHD so it's hard for him to do written tests.

\- He hides his true skills, just as Ken does.

Ken uses Krav Maga.

And with that being said, happy reading and please review!

* * *

Chapter 3

* * *

 **11 Years Old**

1 more year had passed and Ken was now a Level 5 Sealmaster. Naruto was a Level 3, but he just hadn't taken the exam yet. Regardless, it was higher then what most jonin got to in their whole lifetimes. He was also amazingly close to making the gun a reality. Ken was currently sitting in the classroom, working on a seal that collects a large amount of air, compresses it, and releases it all at once. If he could integrate this seal into the gun, he quite possibly could take out the whole primer and propellant component of the cartridge, leaving only the bullet. This would make the production of the gun so much easier.

"Hah?! What did you say, Sasuke-teme!?" came a shout from somewhere in the classroom. Naruto had become much more cheerful and outgoing after that night on the Yondaime's head. The trust between Naruto and Ken had reached a whole new level and they knew they both had each others' backs.

"Shut the hell up, dobe!" said Sasuke in a conceited tone. Sasuke was another problem of Ken's. It's not like Ken didn't understand what Sasuke was going through. No, wait… Ken didn't understand, but he knew. He knew Sasuke was scared to make any more connections in case something like this happened again. Well… Ken sort of understood. Something similar had happened to him when he used to be 'Ethan'.

Seeing a guy shoving his tongue into the mouth of a girl you really thought loved you hits you pretty badly in the feels. That was all the way back in high school but after that, Ethan had refrained from making any meaningful emotional connections with anyone. All he had was his craving for excitement in life, and his loyalty for Canada – now Naruto.

But Sasuke was just being an asshole. He had the attention of almost every single girl in the class, yet he just plainly ignored them. Now, Ken wouldn't mind that. Hell, if it was him, he'd do the same thing... **after telling him to fuck off**. What bothered Ken was that not **once** had Sasuke properly requested them to back off. If you don't want them to bother you, kindly tell them to fuck off, but nooo. This cunt liked all the attention he was getting. And Naruto, being… well, **Naruto** , kept getting jealous of him.

Every day was the same routine: the children entered the classroom, Naruto bothered Sasuke (mainly because Naruto felt like Sasuke was too lonely and wanted to help him form bonds), Sasuke in his own asshole way insulted Naruto, Naruto got mad, Sakura and Ino came into the classroom and started gushing over Sasuke, and Naruto promptly backed off and hung out with his brother, Ken, and his 'bestest friend in the whole world' – as Naruto had so eloquently put it, Hinata... who had fainted promptly after. But today was different. Today it seemed like Sasuke was more irritated than usual. Why? He was the one that picked the fight first today. Naruto and Ken were minding their own business, talking about seals and how a Sealmaster Hokage would be so cool (with the Yondaime being his hero and what not) when Sasuke had made a particularly insulting comment towards Naruto's dream of being a Hokage. From there the argument had quickly taken a nosedive and devolved into something just short of an all-out brawl.

The door slammed open and in strode Ino and Sakura. "G'morning Ino-chan! Sakura-chan!" Naruto waved to them happily and backed off of Sasuke. He joyfully trotted back to their desk and plopped down between Ken and Hinata. Ken habitually reached over and ruffled Naruto's hair – which was becoming easier since Ken was growing faster than Naruto and was almost three inches taller than him. Naruto, as always, leaned into Ken's hand, reveling in the attention he was getting from his precious older brother. "So, Hina-chan, wanna train together today?"

Hinata had a crush on the blonde, the size of the Hokage monument. Interestingly, Naruto still hadn't figured that out yet, even though they spent so much time with each other. "S-Sorry, Naruto-kun. I n-need to train with my f-father today."

"Oh, that's alright! How about tomorrow?" Asked the blonde.

From somewhere across the room, Sasuke scoffed. "Why the hell would anyone want to train with a dobe like you?" Ken narrowed his eyes. This wasn't like Sasuke. It was almost like he was using Naruto as a stepping stone to further elevate his own ego. **NO ONE USED HIS PRECIOUS LITTLE BROTHER LIKE THAT!** Ken subconsciously started leaking a little bit of his killing intent. Immediately, everyone in the class, other than Naruto and Sasuke found it increasingly hard to breathe. "Of course, except for your stupid, dumbass brother." Ken's eyes widened, and his killing intent stopped. Everyone was breathing fine again. But... _Oh **fuck**_ was the thought that passed through Ken's head right before the shit hit the fan.

It took Ken one millisecond to deactivate the resistance seals all over his body. It took him another five milliseconds to get across the classroom. And one more microsecond to catch Naruto's fist in his hand. Had he been even a bit late, Sasuke would be in the hospital right now. "Naruto. Calm. Down." Ken said sternly.

"No, Nii-san! He insulted you!" Naruto growled as the Kyuubi's chakra leaked out just barely, unnoticeable by anyone but Ken. His eyes narrowed at Sasuke behind him.

" **Naruto,** " Ken added weight to his words. "What have I told you about being a shinobi?"

Naruto realized what he had just done and looked down. He pulled his fist back to his side, "That secrecy and deception are our right and left hands."

"And what did you just do?"

"I… I'm sorry, Nii-san." Ken stared at his little brother for a moment and then sighed.

He reached up and put a hand on Naruto's shoulder. "It's okay. C'mon, let's go back to our seats, and I'll help you reactivate the seals again."

The rest of the class looked on in disbelief as the Uzumaki duo made their way back to their seats. The collective thoughts that were going through everyone's mind could be summed up with three words: _What the hell?_ As they sat back down, Hinata comforted Naruto and Ken went back to modifying his seal as if nothing had happened.

A moment of silence passed before one person decided to risk it and voiced the question they were all itching to ask.

"What the hell was that Naruto!?" screeched another blonde. Ken looked up and saw Ino standing in front of their desk with an angry expression. Before Naruto could reply and the whole thing turns into another argument, Ken took the initiative.

"Are you really that dumb, Ino? It's simple. Sasuke insulted me, and Naruto damn near dislocated the emo's jaw." Ken explained as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"No! I mean how the hell were you both that fast?!"

"That's classified information," Ken answered neutrally.

Sasuke grew impatient and spoke up. "Tell me, dobe! How did get that fast?"

Ken replied for Naruto again, in a neutral tone. "We are not obligated to provide you with any information, Uchiha-san." Sasuke ground his teeth and seethed.

This time it was Sakura that spoke up. "You said something about seals, Ken. Do you guys have weight seals on you?"

"I can neither confirm nor deny details of any such operation without the Hokage's approval," Ken stated, thinking back to how he had answered the cabinet once in his past life.

Again, the whole class looked taken aback. The Hokage? Just who were these two? Ken smirked and thought, _this is a damn good chance. Might as well help my comrades while I can_.

He began again. "Honestly, I don't know why all you girls pine after the Uchiha. Is it because he's strong? Cuz if it is, I can assure you, Naruto is at least three times as strong as him. Or is it because of his mysterious aura? If THAT is the reason, it's even worse. Know why?"

"W-Why?" Ino asked, not sure if she wanted to hear the answer.

"Because… you never know what's going on through his head. Look at him. He acts like you're all annoying but has never once told you to leave him alone. I think he just likes the attention. Don't you, Sasuke-chan?" Ken knew he was treading on thin ice. From what he'd seen throughout the academy years was that Sasuke was extremely insecure about almost all aspect of himself. Especially his strength. That was why he made sure to stay on top of the class.

"SHUT UP! YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT ME!" Sasuke roared at Ken. Again, Ken knew he was pushing awfully close to Sasuke's breaking point. _The sharingan activates under extreme emotional strain, right? Heh. Might as well help him._

"Oh, is that so? I don't know anything, do I? I don't know how much you used to look up to your brother. How much you used to push yourself to be as good as him. How much you're loving all the pity you're getting from **the whole fucking village** right now." Ken didn't want to do this, but it was the only way.

"SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Sasuke pulled out a kunai. "I'LL KILL YOU!" _Ah! Perfect chance!_

"Of course, you will. Now we can truly see. You really are Itachi's little brother. Who else would kill his own comrades?"

The class went silent after they all collectively gasped. Ken once more deactivated the resistance seals and got ready. Sasuke's face contorted in rage. He clenched his eyes and when he opened them again, there was a sharingan with two tomoe in it.

With a loud intimidating warcry, Sasuke jumped, launching himself at Ken, fully intending to impale the redhead with the kunai. Sasuke approached – right arm which held the kunai was extended, going straight towards Ken. Ken saw it coming a mile away. With decades of experience and knowledge behind his back, Ken's instincts activated immediately. As Sasuke's right arm approached him, Ken put his hands up and twisted to the right, diverting the trajectory with his left forearm. Sasuke tried to pull his arm back, but Ken was faster. Ken clamped down on Sasuke's right wrist and pushed it down, resulting in bending Sasuke's elbow. Ken reared his free arm and went to punch Sasuke right in the jaw but Sasuke quickly utilized his free arm caught the fist. Ken took that opportunity to bring his right knee up and kick the Uchiha's precious package, instantly making Sasuke double over and black out. Sasuke lay unconscious on the classroom floor.

Yeah, it was a cheap shot, but guess what? Shinobi weren't samurai. They don't play fair, especially when their life depended on it. The fight was over in less than a second. Ken backed away and took the kunai from Sasuke's grasp and put it in his own hidden holster.

He walked to his bag and got his water bottle out. "Ino!" he called out.

"Y-Yeah?" said the blonde fearfully.

"I need a mirror," he said in a commanding voice. "Now." He followed when the blonde didn't move.

"Y-Yes. Just a m-minute." Ino ran back to her bag and searched through it. A few seconds later she pulled out a small makeup mirror and fearfully handed it to Ken.

"Thank you." He said as he took it from her hands. Ken walked back to where Sasuke was laid out cold.

Ken opened his bottle and poured some water on Sasuke's face. Said raven sputtered and woke up with a jerk. Ken put his bottle down and kneeled in front of the Uchiha. "Sasuke," Ken called out, grabbing his attention. He held the mirror out for Sasuke to see his own reflection. "Channel chakra into your eyes."

"You!" Sasuke growled out and narrowed his eyes. Ken knew Sasuke was going to try to start another fight. He reached out and grabbed Sasuke's neck in his hand, nearly cutting off air flow.

"I said, channel chakra into your eyes. NOW!" Ken leaked killing intent intentionally this time. Most civilian children fell to their knees this time, breathing heavily with sweat collecting on their foreheads. Sasuke's eyes also widened. He was about to rebel but thought not to and did as was told.

Instantly, both eyes shone red and the two-tomoe sharingan flared to life. Ken held up the mirror once more and said, "Look. Your eyes."

Sasuke looked and gasped. "N-No way…"

Ken released the Uchiha and got up, simultaneously cutting off his killing intent. "You're welcome." He gave the mirror back to Ino. "Thank you, Ino-chan!" Ken smiled brightly.

"N-n-no problem." She said quietly, taking the mirror back while blushing.

Ken went back and sat down beside Naruto, who was now totally starry-eyed. "WHOA NII-SAN! How did you do that!? Can you teach me? Please? Please? Pleeeeaseeee?" Naruto bounced up and down in his seat.

Ken chuckled at his brother's antics. And ruffled his hair again. "Maybe next time, Naruto."

"Mou… you always say that, Nii-san." Naruto pouted.

Sasuke looked at the scene in front of him longingly. Tears welled in his eyes, but he quickly blinked them back before anyone saw. Though this did not go unnoticed by Ken and Naruto.

"Don't do that," came a soft voice. So soft that it went unheard by everyone other than Ken, who was the closest to the person speaking, and Naruto, who had enhanced hearing thanks to the fox. "You say it once, and you'll say it again. And you'll keep saying it again, and again, and again until there won't be a 'next time'. All that's going to be left are bad memories." Sasuke finished speaking and got up.

Ken and Naruto glanced at each other, making eye contact and having a whole conversation in just those nanoseconds. Both of them nodded at once and turned to the solemn Uchiha. Sasuke started walking away, but abruptly stopped when he felt a comforting hand on his shoulder. He turned back to see Ken's softly smiling visage and Naruto's wide exuberant grin.

"I'm not going to say I understand your pain, cuz I don't. But… I can try. WE," Ken gestured to himself and Naruto, "can try. We didn't have an easy life either. Being ostracized by the whole village since birth. The only one who acknowledged us was Hokage-sama. I can't tell you why we were looked down upon since it's a state secret but… I just wanted to let you know. If you need anyone, we're here. If you need a helping hand, a shoulder to cry on, someone to rant to, hell, even if you had a nightmare and just want someone to spend time with, we're here for you. We can try to understand each other's pain."

"N-Nii-san?" Naruto called out shakily. Ken turned towards him with a worried expression.

"Yeah, Naruto?"

"You… you know why the villagers hate us?" he said with wide eyes.

Ken sighed and closed his eyes. When he finally opened them, everyone could see just how much suffering and agony he had been going through. "Yes. Yes, Naruto. I do know why the villagers hate us. But you don't need to concern yourself with a bunch of ignorant pricks," he finished.

"But… but… why didn't you tell me!?" Naruto shouted.

"As I said, Naruto, it is a state secret."

"What's a state secret?" asked Ino from the sidelines.

"A state secret is a sensitive issue or piece of information that is kept secret by the government, usually to protect the public. In Naruto's case, it is an S-class secret. Anyone who talks about it will be executed on the spot. And before you ask why I know about it, it's because I figured it out myself. Y'know, let's do an experiment. I want all of you to try spending one day with a henge on. I want all of you to henge as Naruto for just one hour and keep walking through the streets of Konoha. Then, spend one hour in a Sasuke henge. You'll immediately notice the difference." Ken challenged. He turned to Sasuke and added, "that doesn't mean I'm undermining your life though. But please, keep what I said in mind. Don't push others away. We're just trying to help you."

Sasuke diverted his eyes, "I'll… think about it."

"That's all I can ask. Remember, strength in numbers."

Somewhere from the back of the crowd a voice scoffed and spoke up, "tell **that** to 1000 Iwa shinobi."

Ken growled and turned with his fist raised, "Oi! That's different! The Yondaime was almost a damn god! He doesn't count, dammit!"

That was the moment Iruka walked in, "Everyone to your seats! Class is beginning!"

* * *

Ken was immediately woken as he heard Naruto shift in his covers. "Nii-san?"

"Yes, Naruto?"

"Why did Sasuke say that?"

"Say what?"

"Y'know, the 'maybe next time' thing."

Ken sighed. "Honestly, I'm not sure but I can guess it's because Itachi probably used to say the same thing to him when Sasuke asked for training. Seeing us interact that way probably brought back some bad memories." Ken stared at the ceiling for some time. "You know, I don't think Sasuke is a bad person. He's just afraid of making bonds in fear of having them snatched away someday which is why I want to make him see that bonds are what truly make someone strong. Wanting to protect someone is the greatest motivator ever. Even greater than revenge."

"Nii-san?" Naruto spoke up again.

"Hm?"

"When you talk about stuff like this, why does it always sound like you know it?"

"Huh?" Ken replied. He was truly confused.

"I-I mean… It's like… when you talk about that stuff, it's like you've been through it already. It's like you're… you're," he was cut off as Ken finished the sentence for him.

"Talking from experience?"

"Yeah! Experience! That's it! Why does it always sound like that?" Naruto asked curiously.

Ken thought about how to answer that before he just laughed. "Tell you what, Naruto. If you pass the exam with close to top marks, I'll tell you a secret about me. One that no one knows, not even the Hokage."

Ken couldn't see but he was pretty sure Naruto was wide-eyed and gaping like a fish. "Not even Jiji know!?" he asked incredulously.

"Nope! Now I'm going to sleep, and you should too. Good nitrogen, sleep tightrogen, don't let the bed bugs bitrogen." And Ken was off into dreamland, leaving a confused and bewildered Naruto awake to ponder his brother's words.

* * *

 **Done! Idk if I should make Sasuke the antagonist or make his relation to Ken and Naruto stronger. If I make him a friend, I'm going to be making his bond with the Uzumaki brothers very strong. If I make him an antagonist, I'm going to be making him a complete asshole.** **It's one or the other. There's no in between. Let me know in the reviews below!**

 **And respects to you if you got my Mission Impossible reference lol.**

 **Till next time… which I don't know when it will be since exams and starting and engineering is a bitch.**

 **Love,**  
 **TheReaper999**


	5. Chapter 4

Another chapter done.

To the anonymous critic: Lol it's all good. Thank you for pointing out the flaws in my story and helping me improve.

 **WARNING** : This might not be as good as the other chapters and might seem a little rushed, but these developments were something I wanted to get out of the way. Sorry!

* * *

Chapter 4

* * *

Ken walked up to the stairs to the Hokage's office with an intense expression on his face. He waved to the secretary who smiled and nodded saying, "Hokage-sama is free at the moment. You may enter."

"Thank you, Yuki-san," Ken replied politely. He pushed open the door and walked into the Hokage's office. "Jiji!" Ken called out with a smile.

"Ah, Ken-kun. What brings you here?" asked Hiruzen with a grandfatherly smile on his face, hiding that he was truly grateful for the break from all this thrice-damned paperwork. Ken smiled a bright smile.

"Well I had a little problem with a jutsu, but before that, how are you doing? You look pretty tired from doing all that paperwork. Ready to hand over the hat to Naruto?" he asked, jokingly.

"Haha," the Hokage laughed, "these old bones still have some juice in them. Now tell me, what were you having problems with?"

Ken sighed. "The Bushin. Naruto and I have very large chakra reserves for them and I don't think either of us could manage to create a Bushin without having Tsunade-level chakra control. And without the Bushin, we might as well fail the academy. I can put chakra restriction seals on us both but that would be detrimental to our growth. Can you please help us, Jiji?" Ken pleaded.

"Hmm…" Hiruzen looked up and seemed to be thoughtful for a second before nodding to himself. "Very well then. You have brought up an excellent point. Uzumakis usually do have problems with chakra control because of their sheer capacity," here Hiruzen put his face in his hands and sighed. "I guess this is for the best. After all, one of the reasons my sensei created this technique was so that the Uzumaki could also use Bushin."

Ken went wide-eyed. "Really. Jiji? You… You're not going to ask for anything in return from us?"

Hiruzen raised an eyebrow. "Now why would I do that, Ken-kun? You are Naruto are my grandchildren in everything but blood."

"R-Right… of course… ehehe…" Ken sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. It was still hard for Ken to break his habits from his past life. On Earth, no one ever gave something without wanting something in return. This world was truly amazing.

"Ken," the Hokage started. "You have to understand that not everyone you meet has ulterior motives. Especially your own comrades."

"You're right Jiji, but… better be safe than sorry, right? After all, that's what it means to be a shinobi," Ken finished with a toothy grin.

"Hmm, that's very smart of you my boy. Now, how about we get to learning this new jutsu then?" the Hokage prompted.

It was an hour later that Ken walked out with a newly learned Kage Bushin no Jutsu under his belt. He started planning for his education while walking home.

 _Well, all the academy kids have their clan jutsus and everything and Naruto has an overgrown furball in his body while I have_ nothing, he mused. _Guess I'll just have ot make up for all that with knowledge. Thank god I had massive chakra reserves though. And now with the Kage Bushin in my jutsu repertoire… Merry fucking Christmas to me. It transfers memories to me also, huh? Man, I wish chakra existed in my past life. Productivity level: Over 9000!_

"I'm home!" he called out as he walked into the apartment.

"Welcome back, Nii-san! I made us both some ramen!" Naruto called out as he ran over and glomped Ken.

Ken chuckled, and once again rubbed Naruto's hair. "Thanks, Naruto. Let's get started on dinner, shall we?"

With an enthusiastic "Hai!" from Naruto, both brothers were seated on the dining table eating their ramen. Naruto was talking animatedly about his day with Ken listening attentively and adding a few comments here and there when Naruto suddenly stopped talking and snapped his fingers. "Oh, Nii-san!"

"Hmm?"

"There was a lady here to see you today. You weren't there so I told her to come back later," Naruto said.

"A lady or a girl?" Ken asked as he started forming a mental picture. Old habits die hard.

"A lady," Naruto answered

"How did she look?" Ken asked immediately

"Uhh…" Naruto scratched his head trying to recall what she looked like. "She was sort of tall and… pale."

"Stop Naruto," Ken said raising his hand. "Let me teach you how to describe a person. This will also be a useful skill in your shinobi career. Now listen very carefully. Ready?" he asked.

"Uh-huh!" Naruto nodded and listened intently.

"First, gender. Male or female. Then, you go on to describe their race." Ken explained thinking back to his RCMP days.

"Nii-san, what's race?" Naruto asked curiously

"Like… y'know, if they're… oh shit. Hmm… their… skin colour, okay?" Ken corrected himself, realizing that there were no continents in this world.

"Oh! Alright," Naruto nodded again.

"Next is their age. Use approximation like 10 to 15 or 20 to 30. Like that. Then describe their height. When doing that also take a note of what footwear they have on." So far, Naruto was soaking up all the knowledge like a sponge. "Then would be their build. For example fat, skinny, muscular. After that, comes the face. Describe it in the order I tell you. Ready?"

"Yes."

"Okay. Hair, forehead, eyes, nose, cheeks, ears, mouth, chin/jaw, neck, facial hair, and any tattoos. Now, go ahead. Describe that woman."

"Ok… uh… Female with a little pale skin. Maybe around 15 to 20 years old. Height would be around… uh… one and a half MEs,"

"Hold up, what?" Ken looked at Naruto confusedly. "The hell does one and a half MEs mean?"

"No! Not one and a half YOUs! One and a half MEs!" Naruto repeated.

Ken looked at him weirdly and slowly his mouth formed into an 'O' as realization dawned on him. "AHAHAHAHA! MEs! Oh, don't kill me! Oh, that was too cute. Ahaha!" he laughed for a good two minutes before explaining. "Naruto. You can't say 'one and a half MEs'. You're supposed to say, 'one and a half times my height' or '1.5 times my height'. Anyway, continue."

Nodding as he filed away that information in his brain, Naruto continued. "She was wearing black shinobi sandals. For build… uh… I guess just like any normal shinobi woman. Her face was really pretty. Her hair was purple and shoulder length, the forehead was about…" Naruto put up four of his fingers and showed Ken, "this wide. And her eyes were a bit narrowed with a beauty mark under her right eye. Her nose and mouth were also small, and her lips were just a bit bigger than normal. Her jaw was very sharp and her neck… uh… there was a small bump on it in the middle. And the last thing was pretty weird. When she was talking, there was a black line in the back of her tongue."

Naruto's whole description was a wild ride for Ken and he was just barely containing his laughter, but as soon as he said the tongue part, Ken jumped right into his commander mode. Naruto dubbed it his 'Hokage mode' since it looked so much like when his Jiji was serious.

"What happened, Nii-san?" Naruto asked, concerned.

"You said a black line in the back her tongue, Naruto?" Ken asked.

"Yeah, I think so."

"What was her name?" Ken asked with piercing violet eyes.

"She didn't say. She only said that she'll be back later." Naruto said, questions upon questions on the tip of his tongue but he knew he shouldn't disturb his Nii-san when he was thinking.

A few minutes later, Ken looked up. "Naruto, it's time to go to bed. I want you to go to sleep, but also keep a kunai with you." Ken stood up and put his fingers in the oh so familiar cross sign and whispered, "Kage Bushin no Jutsu". Immediately two clones popped up. Ken turned to Naruto. "I learned this from Jiji today. Since we can't do normal Bushin, he said we could use this. I'll teach it to you tomorrow. For now, these two will keep watch over you. Also, take this seal," Ken reached into his pocket and pulled out a small paper with an intricate seal on it. "If anything happens, channel a small burst of chakra into it. It'll let me know right away."

"N-Nii-san? What happened?" Naruto's curiosity got the better of him.

"Haahh… "he sighed. "You know when you said that thing about the black line?" Naruto nodded. "Well, I read in a book once that some shinobi have seals put on them to prevent leakage of information. Usually, it's on the back of their neck so that if they ever leak any secret information about their village, the seal cuts off their nerves form the base of the neck, which kills them. The less dangerous version is the one that's supposed to be on the back of the tongue. It only burns out your tongue so that you can never talk again. I know for a fact that Jiji doesn't do that and wouldn't allow that so that means that that woman was a very dangerous hostile shinobi. Now I'm just trying to decide whether I should try to get away or infiltrate them. If they came at the apartment, it means they know where we live. But that also means that they don't want to kill us right away." By this point, Ken was just talking to himself, but Naruto was also listening with rapt attention and was secretly impressed by how amazingly experienced his brother was. "I can't go back to Jiji since they're probably keeping watch…" Ken sighed, "Man, I haven't had to make such a hard decision since Benghazi."

"Since when?" Naruto asked, not sure if he heard right. Ken jerked his head up while mentally berating himself. It seems he had lost his touch. Back on Earth, he'd never have let so much slip.

"Ah, forget it. I'll put you to bed now Naruto," Ken guided Naruto towards their bedroom and tucked him in. One clone stood guard outside the room, and the other sat on Ken's bed, keeping an eye on Naruto and the surroundings. Ken was about the leave the room when he came back and gave Naruto a big hug with a kiss on the forehead. "Naruto. I love you, and I always will. I just want you to remember that."

With that last statement, Ken was gone, leaving behind a confused and sleepy Naruto.

* * *

Ken stepped outside the apartment and walked towards the Hokage tower he could _feel_ the shinobi following him. He kept walking until finally a woman in ANBU gear appeared before him. Her mask was different than the usual masks that ANBU wore. It didn't… look like an animal.

"I was wondering when you'd show up," Ken said nonchalantly. "What do you need from me?"

"Ken Uzumaki. You will come with me. An important person has requested your presence," the ANBU ordered.

"Requested?" Ken asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes, but you do not have any say in the matter. You will appear before him," the ANBU said stoically.

"Ah, so it's a male," Ken deduced out loud just to rile her up. There was no outward reaction, but by the movement of her iris through the eye holes, Ken could see that he had gotten to her. "Whatever…" he yawned, "I'm sure the Hokage doesn't know about this, but I sure as hell am curious so let's get this over with, shall we?" The ANBU placed her hand on Ken's shoulder and disappeared with him in a shunshin.

A few minutes later, Ken found himself sitting in front of a man with bandages covering half of his face and one of his arms in a cast. "Danzo Shimura," Ken said. He had read about him in one of the history books. He used to be a teammate of the Hokage. "This is certainly surprising. What would you possibly want with little old me?" he asked with amusement in his voice.

"Ken Uzumaki," Danzo said slowly. He was about to say more when Ken cut him off.

"Yeah, that's me. Now listen, I know you're going to talk to me in some ominous kind of way, but can we skip all that? I'm sleepy and want to get back home. Let's go straight to the point. I don't know why you want to talk to me, but whatever it is, it can't possibly be approved by the Hokage, which would make in insubordination at best and treason at worst, so let me ask again: What do you want with me?" Ken spoke without a break.

One of the muscles on Danzo's face twitched very slightly, but apart from that, there was no indication of the irritation he was feeling. Ken mentally scoffed, _Heh, amateur…_ Ken had conducted mission under deep cover, sometimes having to kill his own agents even and still hadn't ever so much as twitched when pulling the trigger. He had looked them in the eye – people he trained, fought, and laughed with – and without a hint of remorse, put a round through their skull.

He didn't like it, but it was for the greater good. Compared to Ken, Danzo was but a child.

"Very well," Danzo spoke filling the room with killing intent. "I want you to join my personal ANBU. We protect Konoha form the shadows and," once again he was cut off by Ken.

"One, no thanks. I still have to take care of Naruto. Maybe I'll consider it in the future. Two, what did you just do? It's like it just got so much easier to breathe in here," Ken said curiously as to why it felt like breathing in his past life.

What he didn't know was that In Ken past life, the whole world was filled with so much malice that even a fifth grader **subconsciously** exuded killing intent on the level of an experienced elite ANBU… That was why when he came into this world, this whole time, he was so uncomfortable while breathing. When Danzo focused all his killing intent on Ken, he felt like he was breathing similar to back in his old world, but the air was still too thin.

Danzo gulped and receded his killing intent and spoke once more, "I'd like you to at least take a look at how strong our warriors are. Your goal is to protect your brother, yes?"

"Yeeeeah?" Ken narrowed his eyes. Anytime Naruto got involved in dangerous shit, Ken's defenses automatically went up.

"Well, I'm sure you'll be impressed with how strong my ANBU are at such a young age even. By completely removing emotions, we can send," and Danzo was cut off once again.

"OOOHHH MYYYY GOOOOOSHH! Did you say you **remove** all emotions?" Ken asked, bewildered.

"Yes. Why would you find that so surprising?" Danzo asked indignantly. Ken was under the special protection of the Hokage and was a Sealmaster. Danzo had to tread lightly, lest he scared the Uzumaki off. With Ken under his thumb, Danzo could possibly improve the strength of his ROOT by a large factor. That was why he was letting this child be so disrespectful for now.

"No, well I don't find it surprising, so much as stupid," Ken answered genuinely concerned. "Don't get me wrong, I know what you're trying to do. Remove all emotions and make them so fiercely loyal that they'd never betray you. Yeah, well, guess what? Don't ask me how, but it doesn't work. Making them emotionless just makes them empty, waiting to be filled up by something or someone. The moment they find something better, they'll switch sides. Emotions are what make people strong!" he exclaimed. "That's why, you don't erase their emotions, you MANIPULATE them!" Ken finished.

Danzo's eyebrow rose. There was logic in what the boy was saying, but… he was after all just a boy. How and why would he know this? Danzo made to speak again, but Ken waved raised his hand, stopping him before he even began. This surprised Danzo very much. The amount of authority the… human in front of him exuded so naturally only came with decades of experience in leading armies. Yet this **boy** … Interesting.

"Stop," Ken continued. "I know what you want to say. You don't believe me, so I'll give you a scenario. Exhibit A," Ken said, lifting his left hand with the palm facing up. "You have a shinobi in front of you that's trying to destroy your village. You send in three of your best trained emotionless shinobi. What do you think will happen?"

"My operatives will plan and take out the threat with precise coordination," Danzo said confidently.

"Ok. Now you have Exhibit B," Ken said, raising his right hand with the palm facing up again. "You have a shinobi in front of you that's trying to destroy your village. You send in only one of your best-trained man, but he was brought up his whole life made to think that the shinobi that is his target is the one who murdered his precious people. What do you think will happen?" asked Ken with a small smirk on his face. When he saw Danzo contemplating the scenario, Ken couldn't wait. "You know what will happen? That one operative alone will take out the shinobi. Why? Because he has something the other three didn't. Determination for revenge. The other three, if it gets too difficult, will make a rational decision and retreat, but that one guy: he will overcome the odds with pure determination and go down fighting like a true warrior. That is how you make truly strong shinobi. You use their emotions to manipulate them into staying loyal forever."

To say that Danzo was stunned would have been one of the biggest understatements of the year. This **child** has completely destroyed his reasoning with proper plausible facts and everything. _Truly, Ken Uzumaki will be a force to be reckoned with_ , Danzo thought to himself that night as he ordered Tsuchinoe, the operative who brought him there, to drop Ken back at his apartment.

* * *

It was a week later that Ken had finally finished his revolver prototype. It was basically a snub .38 with the design based off of The Colt Cobra. It had a six-chamber cylinder which held only bullets that were all precisely made by a weapons shop owner (they were extremely cheap since it was literally just drops of metal in a dye). The only difference here was that the chambers weren't open at the back. Instead, they were only open in the front, where the bullets went, and on the inside of each chamber was a seal which released an enormous amount of hydrogen that had been collected by another connecting seal on the base of the grip and a small spark. Together, this created a big explosion. Exactly what he needed for his bullets to travel fast.

The seal on the bottom kept collecting hydrogen 24/7 and the seal on the inside of the chamber transported a specific amount of that hydrogen to itself and then released it. It had taken a long time for ken to finally get it, but finally, the testing day was here.

Ken and Naruto were currently standing in a clearing in a training ground. Ken was pointing the revolver towards a target that was 100 meters away.

Ken took a deep breath. "Hundred meters. Firing in 3… 2… 1…" he pressed the trigger.

There was an explosion and a blood-curdling scream. When the smoke cleared, there on his knees was Ken, cradling his right hand which was miraculously still intact but badly burned and bloodied. Off to the distance was the revolver… at least what remained of it.

Naruto was by his side in less than a second. "Nii-san!" he screamed and ran to check the damage that had been done, but all he found was an unconscious Ken. A few more seconds and three ANBU appeared. Two of them immediately grabbed Ken and Naruto to shunshin to the hospital, while the third stayed behind to survey the damage.

The ANBU walked up to the target that Ken had shot at. From the front, it didn't look any different except for a tiny hole in it. But when the ANBU circled to the back, her mouth dropped, and her eyes became the size of an extra-large ramen bowl. "Holy shit…" she murmured and shunshined away to report to the Hokage.

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Ok, so before you guys jump to conclusions, let me clarify some things. I wanted to wait for further on into the story before revealing this, but I don't want anyone flaming me saying why does Ken have almost as much chakra as Naruto when Ken doesn't have Kurama in him. **Here is the reason:**

Ken is the great-great-grandchild of Mito Uzumaki. One of her children was moved to Uzushiogakure and the lineage continued from there. Mito was the jinchuriki of Kurama and thus had massive chakra reserves. This became a genetic trait and all her descendants had just as massive reserves. The lineage continued, and the reserves for the later generations became smaller and smaller but were still bigger than Kage-level reserves. Therefore, Ken has just as big reserves as Naruto. YES, I know Naruto should have bigger reserves still, but Mito had 100% of Kurama sealed in her while Naruto only has 50%. Makes sense? Cool.


	6. Chapter 5

Hey! Back with another chapter! I just realized that I never explained what the ANBU found on the back of the training post. Just go watch any gun videos (there's this cool YouTube channel called FPS Russia) and you'll see it.

 **Darkjaden** : But you're forgetting that Naruto isn't pure Uzumaki. He's half Uzumaki, half Namikaze (a no-name clan), while Ken is only Uzumaki and Senju. Therefore, under normal circumstances, he'd have way above average chakra reserves, but not huge ones. With half of Kurama inside of him, his reserves are stretched so that's why he has just as much as Ken. Thanks for noticing tho.

If there's anything in my story you'd like to ask about, please PM me or post a review. Thank you!

 **Disclaimer:** Idk why people post these. Has anyone actually gotten sued?

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Chapter 5

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Ken shifted uncomfortably in his bed as a pair of disapproving eyes and another pair of worried but angry eyes gazed upon him. "So… great weather we're having, huh?" He said with a smile. Naruto narrowed his eyes.

"Nii-san!" he shouted, obviously angry for what had happened to Ken. "Do you know how scared I was!?" By now, Naruto's eyes were shimmering, and Ken again felt bad seeing him that way. "One moment I'm looking at you, doing something cool and what not and the next you're just on the floor screaming and your hand was so bloody, and you fainted and I… I thought you… you…"

"That I died?" Ken finished, followed by a chuckle. "Don't worry, Naruto. I won't die until I see you become Hokage!" Ken finished with a bright smile, trying to uplift Naruto's mood.

"That's… That's not…" Naruto sputtered, trying to put his thoughts into words. "Argh!" he groaned loudly. "I don't want you to die! EVER!" Naruto said, subconsciously squeezing Ken's hand.

"Hahaha, death is still a long way away for both of us. Let's worry about that later, okay?" Ken asked again with a smile to which Naruto nodded and averted his gaze with a small pout but still didn't let go of his hand. Someone clearing their throat quickly brought both the brothers out of their stupor.

"Oh, Jiji!" Ken exclaimed. "What're you doing here?"

"Well…" Hiruzen started. "Imagine my surprise when I heard that someone tried to create a new weapon and test it." He said with a small smile.

"Ehehehe…" Ken chuckled nervously.

"And then imagine when I heard that said weapon backfired and blew up in your hand." The Hokage gained a serious look in his eyes. "You don't want me to ban you from using seals, do you, Ken-kun?"

All the blood from Ken's face drained and he looked as if he had just seen a ghost. "No… Please, please no! You can't do that Jiji!"

"I can, and I will," Hiruzen said seriously before continuing, "if you do something like this ever again. Do you understand?"

"But… but Jiji…" He tried to continue.

"No buts. What you did was extremely dangerous and if you didn't have the unnaturally strong vitality of the Uzumaki clan, you'd be close to death with how much blood you've lost." Hokage finished.

Ken realized he had no other choice. If he wanted to stop the Hokage from banning him from seals and experimentation, this was his only hope. "Jiji, if I can make this weapon a reality, we won't even need kunai and shuriken any more!" Ken exclaimed. He wanted to keep this a secret but with everything that happened… _ah fuck, whatever_.

The Hokage's eyebrows rose slightly at Ken's proclamation. Not need kunai and shuriken? The most basic tools of a shinobi? Just what kind of weapon could this be? Granted, he'd seen the damage caused by it, but he hadn't exactly seen what it did. But then again, this so-called 'new weapon' better be cheaper than kunai and shuriken if Ken really wanted to make something like this. The Hokage sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose before speaking again, "I'll allow you to continue if, and only if, you explain every detail about this new weapon to me and **if** I approve."

Ken face lit up much like Naruto's usually did. "Hai, Jiji!" he said happily.

"But until then, I don't want you experimenting with seals at all. The doctors said that you will be released from the hospital tomorrow so rest up for now," the Hokage spoke with authority.

"Hai, Jiji…" Ken replied downtrodden.

The Hokage left the room after a few more goodbyes and left the Uzumaki duo alone.

"So… how long was I out?" asked Ken. Naruto didn't answer.

Ken sighed. "Naruto… I'm sorry, okay?" No answer.

"Am I getting the silent treatment now?" No answer.

"What can I do to make it up to you?" No answer, but Naruto looked to the side and pouted even more.

"Do you… hate me?" And that did it.

"No!" Naruto practically shouted. "But you scared me! What would I do without you?" Naruto asked, his eyes shimmering with tears. That was when Ken realized that Naruto depended on him a lot.

 _This won't do… I need to teach him to be more independent. I need to show him that one day I won't be here, and he'll need to learn to survive on his own,_ but that was in the future. For now, Ken had one angry little brother to make peace with.

* * *

 **12 Years Old**

It had been about ten months since that last incident. Ken had explained in incredible detail, the concept of the gun to the Hokage. Hiruzen had agreed, albeit reluctantly, to let Ken keep experimenting with seals and his 'new' weapon idea. In these ten months, not only had Ken made full use of his Kage Bushins to gain as much knowledge as possible, but also help Naruto with his studies, and invent a number of new things.

He had started working on making a car. A small one, but a chakra powered car nonetheless. He had also finished writing a whole textbook on advanced mathematics, in case he ever needed a bargaining chip against his Jiji. Ken taught Naruto Krav Maga on regular basis and also spared with him. Thankfully, form that, he had learned what a fucking stamina monster his little brother was.

The gun was finally finished. Sadly, the revolver design just hadn't worked out in the end, so Ken had decided to try making a modern type pistol. The design was based off of the widely loved Glock 19. The design with the seals and everything was very similar this time too but making the parts had been a pain in the ass. The blacksmiths had damn near started hating Ken for asking for such precise measurements. It had cost a shit ton too, but the Hokage had helped him on that front on the promise of providing just as good results.

Had the results been as expected? No. They were much, **much** better. The firepower was incredible. One shot could easily penetrate a tree trunk with a diameter of one foot, even when shot from a distance of more than 150 meters. The only flaw that it had was the recoil. Even though the pistol was only a 9 mm, the recoil was comparable to a Desert Eagle. That was the main thing that Ken was working on at the moment.

The second main thing was the speed of the bullet. Not that it wasn't fast. Oh, it was fast alright, but Ken wanted more. At the moment, the bullet would be invisible to the normal eye while moving, but the Byakugan and the Sharingan could see it. The Byakugan, just barely only at the start, and the Sharingan – courtesy of Kakashi Hatake – could see it only as a blurry dot. Ken had decided to name the gun ' **Uzu 19** '. Uzu, for Uzumaki, acknowledging the inventor, and 19, from Glock 19, acknowledging the inspiration.

But even with these flaws, the Uzu 19 was leagues above the normal traditional kunai and shuriken. It was faster, more powerful, more accurate, and all around just better. Needless to say, the Hokage was thoroughly impressed when Ken had finally decided to unveil it.

 **Flashback**

The Hokage, Kakashi, Shikaku, and two other ANBU – one Hyuga medic, and the other was probably the ANBU Commander – stood off to the side, watching Ken with anticipation.

"Alright, Kakashi-san. Please uncover your Sharingan," Ken asked politely from his place in the middle of the clearing. Kakashi nodded silently and uncovered his eye. "Thank you. At your command, Hokage-sama," said Ken smiling, prompting Hiruzen.

The Hokage nodded once. "Go ahead, Ken-kun." Ken nodded, acknowledging the command.

The redhead unholstered his Uzu 19 and pointed it to the target while aiming down the sights. Ken was slightly out of practice, so he had to hold it in a two-handed grip rather than his usual one-handed grip. He flicked the safety off and called out, "Hundred meters. Firing in 3… 2… 1…"

 _ **BANG!**_

A loud explosion rang out and not even a hundredth of a second later, the back of the target, which was the trunk of a tree, exploded. There was only a small hole visible in the front, but the whole back was completely missing. A hole, five to six inches in diameter was gouged out of the back.

Ken moved 50 more meters back and aimed at another tree right beside the first one. "One hundred fifty meters. Firing in 3… 2… 1…"

Another ' _ **BANG!**_ ' rang out as Ken squeezed the trigger. Again, the same results were visible to the audience. Ken again aimed at another tree beside the two previous targets, "Consecutive shots in 3… 2… 1…" ' _ **BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!**_ ' rang out five consecutive bangs just as fast as Ken pulled the trigger. The poor tree that was made to endure the consecutive test torture creaked and fell on the ground, creating a loud crash. "End of test," he called out and flicked the safety on. He took the magazine out and made sure it was empty. He put it away and pulled the slide back and forth a few times. "Clear." He said, making sure there was nothing in the chamber. Ken put the slide in place, then put the magazine back in, and holstered the gun again. Finally, he turned back to his audience with a bright smile. "So… What did you think?"

Nobody said anything, and Ken was met with three disbelieving stares and gaping mouths (god knows what the ANBU were thinking). After a few seconds of awkward silence, the Hokage was the first to recover. "I've gotta say, Ken-kun. This was very impressive."

Kakashi was next, "Unbelievable…" he breathed out, temporarily forgetting about his usually composed and nonchalant aura. The medic ANBU and the Jonin commander only nodded while the ANBU Commander just stood there as if appraising the weapon.

"This is truly an amazing invention. You've done a very good job, Ken." The Hokage praised.

Ken looked down and shifted uncomfortably. "Jiji…" he started quietly, "please don't praise me… It makes me feel very uncomfortable. I… don't really like it." He finished with a pleading look which got him a raised eyebrow from both Kakashi, who had by now covered his Sharingan back up, and Shikaku.

"Very well then," the Hokage said worriedly. "But this weapon truly is nothing like what we've seen here. Come, let's go back to my office and we can discuss the rest there." Ken nodded and Shunshined out right behind his audience.

In the Hokage's office, Hiruzen sat behind his desk while five other chairs were occupied by the rest of the crew. Hiruzen immediately ordered his guard ANBUs out and activated the numerous privacy seals all around. "The workings of this weapon will be classified an S-rank secret until it is in use all throughout our ranks. Is that understood?" Hiruzen spoke with full authority. All the others nodded. "Good. We'll start with Kakashi. What did you think?"

Kakashi sighed once to get his nerves under control and spoke, "Hokage-sama, with my Sharingan, all I saw was a blurry dot and even lost sight of it for a fraction of a second when it was mid-flight. From what I saw of the destructive power, I'd say it has as much power if not more than that of a kunai coated with wind chakra would have. Overall, if this weapon… the… uh…"

"Uzu 19," Ken helped him.

"Right. If the Uzu 19 was to become standard issue, it would make it very easy for our shinobi to fight." Kakashi concluded.

The Hokage nodded with his eyes closed, considering the scarecrow's words and after a few seconds moved his gaze to the Nara clan head. "Shikaku, what do you think?"

"Troublesome…" the Nara also sighed, "for functionality and results, I wholly agree with Kakashi, but overall… well. If this weapon was to become standard issue for our forces, with the correct training, we'd have total battle supremacy on the world for at least a decade. Not to mention how we'd lower the cost of battle too. Sure, the Uzu 19 costs a lot to make but that's only a one-time charge. After that, all we'd need to pay for are the projectiles that are launched."

"I call them bullets," Ken interrupted quickly to clarify.

"Right. Bullets. Other than that, well… if it falls into the hands of our enemy…" Shikaku left the rest unsaid.

The Hokage nodded again, carefully considering the Jonin Commander's words for a few seconds with closed eyes. He moved onto the Hyuga. "Hyo, what about your analysis with your Byakugan?"

"I could just barely see the bullet when it exited the weapon but lost sight immediately afterward. Sorry, Hokage-sama," Hyo finished.

Hiruzen quickly waved off the apology. "Nonsense. It's nothing to apologize about. It just goes to show how much of a masterpiece this weapon is." Ken looked down again, uncomfortable at the praise received. Hiruzen, sensing this discomfort, moved onto the ANBU Commander. "Ryu, your analysis please?"

"Hokage-sama, Kakashi-san and Shikaku-san have already said everything that I would have so I do not have any significant input except that this weapon would need to be regulated very carefully. Other than that, I only have a request."

"And what might that be, Ryu?" The Hokage asked while smirking as if he already knew.

"That I could recruit Uzumaki-san into ANBU," Ryu replied with an emotionless voice.

"Huh!?" Ken said while his brain struggled to process what the ANBU Commander just said. _Me? ANBU? Already? Damn…_ He looked around the room and saw all the visible faces smirking. _Oh… the bastards knew this was coming_ , thought Ken. His pride was hurt.

"How about it, Ken-kun? Of course, this would be after you graduate the Academy," the Hokage asked. Ken didn't know what to do. He knew how hard the Spec Ops life was. Did he really want to join? What about Naruto?

"Can I… have some time to think about it?" Ken asked.

The Hokage hummed thoughtfully and scratched his chin. "You have until your graduation. If you don't decide by then or decline the offer, you'll have to apply like a regular shinobi after you reach the rank of Chunin. Is that enough time?"

"Hai, Jiji! Thank you!" Ken said with a bright smile on his face.

The Hokage, Kakashi, and Shikaku all chuckled at the redhead's enthusiasm. "Well, it's your turn, Ken-kun. Would you like to explain the weapon to us?"

Ken nodded and started. "This weapon is called a 'gun'. You can also call it a 'firearm', 'handgun', or 'pistol'."

"I thought it was called 'Uzu 19'," Shikaku said with a raised eyebrow.

"You're right. 'Uzu 19' is the model. The weapon in general is called a 'gun'. There will be more model. Some more dangerous, some less. The way it works is that there is a seal at the base of the grip," Ken pointed at the seal, "that collects oxygen from the air and stores it into another dimension. There is another smaller seal inside the base of the barrel that releases a set amount of compressed oxygen from the same dimension and simultaneously makes a spark. An explosion happens inside the barrel which creates an immense amount of pressure, which in turn propels the bullets at mind-boggling speed. The inside of the barrel is rifled which rotates the bullet on its way out and adds a spin. The spin increases the speed and the damage it does. When the explosion happens, the slide is also pushed back allowing another bullet to load itself. The magazine," Ken took it out to show everyone, "packs 15 rounds and there is one chamber in the gun itself, bringing the total number of shots up to 16." Ken took a deep breath and let it out again. He looked around the room to find all eyes wide. "Uh… I guess that's it."

This time it was Shikaku who recovered first. "I have… several questions." He said, raising a finger.

"Ask away!" Ken beamed the Jonin Commander.

"What exactly is… oxygen?"

 **It was at that moment Ken knew… he fucked up.**

"Ah… Uh… Hmm… what's the best way to explain this?" that was what Ken showed on the outside. On the inside, however, _SHITFUCKSONUVABITCHHELLGODDAMMITFUCKSHITAKSFLASDLJSHDBKJHBSDJFSBDJ_ , "it's a component in the air that burns perfectly."

"…" Five blank stares.

"For example," Ken held his left hand out and released some of his chakra and collected some air, "can someone please touch fire to the air above my hand?"

Hiruzen lit a small flame on his finger using his fire affinity and brought it near Ken's hand. When the flame touched the invisible ball of air, the air lit up with a yellow flame and died down with black smoke going up. Ken immediately pointed at the smoke that had lasted for about second, drawing everyone's attention to it. "You see that smoke? That was because a bunch of random components other than oxygen were also mixed in. It's called incomplete combustion. Now," Ken again held out his hand and gathered pure oxygen.

"Woah…" the Hyuga ANBU whispered. He had his Byakugan activated and Kakashi had uncovered his Sharingan sometime during the process. Both of them could easily see how pure the air above Ken's hand was.

"Can you do it again, Jiji?" Ken asked. Hiruzen repeated the process and this time, the air lit up with a purely blue flame. It almost looked like it was pure chakra. "See that? That's complete combustion. No smoke." Ken wanted to explain more about carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide, but he was on extremely thin ice as it was.

"Ken-kun… how have you learned all this?" the Hokage asked.

"Research, Jiji!" Ken answered immediately, using all his experience as the CANSOFCOM Commander and operative to keep a straight face. Even a hint of lie and he'd be down in T&I forever. The Hokage stared at his face for the longest time, then finally let out a sigh.

"Do you think you could possibly write all this down? You too, Hyo, Kakashi. I want a detailed report on what you both saw with your respective Dojutsus." Hiruzen said curiously.

 _So, this is why he's called 'The Professor'_ , thought Ken with realization dawning.

"Moving onto other issues, what do you think about the regulations of the gun, Ken-kun?" the Hokage asked again.

Ken rubbed his chin for a few seconds, deep in thought, and then finally spoke up. "All ANBUs should have it on their person at all times. No one but Jonin should be allowed to actually use the gun on duty. Only a select few elite Jonin that you can trust with the security with the village should be allowed to carry it off duty.

"All the guns **must** be registered. If a Jonin wants to carry one out on duty, they should check it out. When checking it out, they must write down their name, date of checkout and the mission number that they are going to check it out for. All guns must be returned to the armoury no later than two hours after the end of the mission… WITH the holster for it. One of your most trustworthy ANBU or Jonin must review the check-out and check-in roster at the end of each week.

"The Hokage must carry one at all times. No guns allowed in the Hokage's residence or the Hokage's office except for the ANBU guard. Or day, whichever one you feel appropriate. And uh… OH! Everyone who wants to use a gun must undergo a psych eval first. That's all for now. If I think of more, I'll let you know Jiji." Ken beamed at the Hokage who was tired of the number of surprises today. His surrogate grandson was practically an administrative genius. Maybe he could delegate some of his paperwork to… _No! Bad Hokage!_ Hiruzen berated himself in his mind.

"Thank you very much, Ken-kun. I will implement all of that as soon as we can make this standard issue." Hiruzen smiled lovingly at the child prodigy. "Until then, please keep me updated on your other projects as well."

"Hai, Jiji!"

After Ken left, the four adults – Hyo had also been dismissed – sat in silence for a while before Kakashi finally broke the peace. "Can I take on an apprentice, Hokage-sama?"

Before the Hokage could say anything, the ANBU Commander cut in with a sharp voice, "I'm recruiting him into ANBU, Kakashi-san."

"Hokage-sama, Ken would make a genius strategist. If you let me-,"

"It's too early for strategy. You can do that after I apprentice him-,"

"ANBU needs him more than you two-,"

Three of the most elite shinobi in the world… bickering like children… over a child. A genius prodigy, with even greater potential than Itachi or even the Fourth himself… but a child, nonetheless. It almost brought a wry smile to Hiruzen's face. Almost. "Enough!" thundered the God of Shinobi. "I will not have three of my most elite shinobi behaving like brats. Now, this is what will happen. Ken-kun will graduate from the Academy, and from there he will choose whether or not he wants to join ANBU. If yes, we'll see what happens after that. If not, he will be asked whether he wants to study war strategy, go into Research and Development, or be a normal genin.

"As for you, Kakashi, you will be taking a genin team this year. Most likely comprised of Sasuke Uchiha and two others. Is that understood?"

"Hai, Hokage-sama!" came three shouts of absolute obedience.

 **Flashback End**

After that, Ken had written down the bare minimum that he could get away with and handed it in to the Hokage. The fact that he had also tried the thing with the oxygen gave way to another idea in his brain. What if he spread his chakra around his opponent, and slowly – or abruptly if needed – drained away the oxygen from around them. It took almost Jonin level control to do it, but it was possible. Then again, **that** gave way to yet another idea what if concentrated oxygen around his opponents and connected it to himself with a stream through the air (like a chakra thread, but with oxygen instead) and lit it up.

Ken and Naruto had already been training with all the affinities, so in about five years time, with the help of shadow clones, they both should be able to use all five affinities like they were their main ones. The main ones for Ken were Earth and Water, with Wind being a close second while Naruto's were Wind, with Water and Lightning being close seconds. And with that, Ken had instantly sent even more shadow clones outside the village walls to train for said moves. The mental backlash that came with all that training was a bitch, but he'd deal with it.

By now, Ken had improved the gun as much as possible and created six of them. The Hokage, Shikaku, Kakashi, and the ANBU Commander each had gotten one, and Ken had kept one for himself. They all kept it hidden with them at all times and the last one was in a vault where all the village secrets above SS-rank were stored.

* * *

Finally done. Sorry for such a late update. I had so much to do and it was hard to organize all my thoughts on how to put all this on paper. Last but not least, **PLEASE REVIEW!** I wanna know what you guys like and dislike. How can I improve? Are there any plot holes? Tell me more.


	7. Chapter 6

Another chapter! I forgot to ask you guys if I should just put Ken into another Genin team or make him join ANBU. But whatever… I'll just make him an ANBU. As for not making him OP. Well, that's a bit hard to do. Especially when you have a modern world Special Forces Commander's mind in an almost sort of industrial era kid's body. Also, I absolutely _**HATE**_ chemistry so I'm sorry if the stuff in the last chapter was a bit wrong.

Shoutout to **Merchant Of Blue Death** for giving me so many ideas for this fic. Also to **Updown1234** , and **Aster's Descendants** for their contributions.

I also realised that I haven't explained Ken and Naruto's dress code.

 **Naruto:** What he wore in Shippuden, but with black cargo pants instead. Everything else remains the same.

 **Ken:** Black bandana around his neck (sort of like what those in gangs wear. Dark red t-shirt. Black cargo pants with a dark red belt. Shinobi pouch on his back which is held up by his belt. Gun (with holster) strapped to his right thigh, designed to look like a kunai pouch. Black gloves like Kakashi. Bandages covering his forearms (in case of emergency). I'll leave the rest to your imagination.

* * *

Chapter 6

* * *

"Nii-san!" Naruto shouted in his brother's ear.

"Huh!?" Ken woke up with a start. "What the hell, Naruto? I was having such a nice dream too…" he said quietly and went on to mumble more, "I had just call in close air support on the enemy's position. The A-10 was almost there and you just had to ruin it…"

"Iruka-sensei is going to be here! The class is about to start and today we have the graduation exam, Nii-san! What if you miss that!? Can't be asleep on such an important day like this. And besides, that's Shikamaru's job. Not yours," Naruto scolded his big brother.

"Yeah, yeah. It's just an exam. Not like it's an S-rank mission or anything," Ken mumbled sleepily. Damn, the mental fatigue of all those shadow clones was nothing to scoff at. "Shit… Feels like I got hit by a fucking truck…"

"A what?" Naruto asked confusedly. The hell was a 'truck'?

"Nn. Never mind," Ken groaned while rubbing his forehead, trying to bring some relief. He had had to stay awake for a week straight without any sleep on many missions in his past life. After the first night of sleep after those missions, this was what the headache felt like.

"A-Are you o-okay, K-K-Ken-kun?" Hinata stuttered out. She really was such a cute little girl. So caring. So sweet. So obsessed with Naruto. So kind.

"Hai, Hinata-chan. I'm fine. Thanks for asking!" Ken said tiredly with a small smile.

"Are you sure, Nii-san?!" Naruto asked loudly, knowing it would annoy Ken.

Naruto had taken to pranks after Ken had shown him once. All Ken had done was a harmless little 'pour a bucket of freezing water on your sleeping little brother' prank. That was probably the biggest mistake of his life yet. Naruto had taken to pranks like fish to water. In fact, just this morning, the little ball sunshine had painted the Hokage monument… **without anyone finding out until he was done!** Poor ANBU were still trying to find the culprit.

Ken winced at the loud volume, "Shut the hell up, you ass. I know you're doing it on purpose!" Ken said, now holding his head in both hands.

"Weeeellll, I just thought that if you could get used to my loud voice then it'd hurt less. Fight pain with pain!" Naruto said again, but this time in his normal voice. Quickly after that, Naruto slung his arm over Ken's shoulder and screamed into his brother's ear, "RIGHT?"

"Fuck! Goddammit, Naruto! You are so dead!" Ken shouted as he tackled Naruto to the ground and started tickling him. "If you get used to the tickles, it won't be funny anymore, RIGHT?" said Ken as he didn't let up one bit.

"Ah! AHaAHHAHahahahAHHAHA, Nii… NII-SAN! HAHAHHAAHAHA Nii-san… I'm sorry! I won't hahaha do it anymore," Ken thought about stopping, which made his assault slow down a bit. Naruto, grabbing this opportunity, quickly slipped out of Ken's grasp and clung to Hinata. "Hinata-chan! Save me!" he cried out to the now completely red Hinata.

"N-Naruto-kun!" squeaked out Hinata.

Naruto was using her as a barrier between himself and Ken. That would be normal, but this time he had his head resting on her shoulder, with his chest pressed against her back, and his arms tightly wound around her waist.

Was he doing it on purpose? No one knew. Was Hinata enjoying herself? FUCK YEAH!

"Save me Hinata-chan!" he said again, now burrowing his face into the crook of her neck. "Save me from this big bad redheaded monster!"

"Nnhnn…" moaned Hinata involuntarily as she felt Naruto's warm breath on her neck.

A tick mark formed above Ken's eye. "Oh, this big bad redheaded monster gon whoop yo lil blond ass soon as I get my hands on ya. Now, get yo mofo butt back here!"

It was then that Iruka-sensei decided to walk in. His eyes roamed taking in the details as the whole class, Sasuke included, *gasp* was looking at a fuming Ken, who was making his way towards a violently blushing Hinata held very intimately by a fearful Naruto. "I don't want to know what's happening. Let's just get this over with. Get back to your seats!" He said as he took out the exam papers. _Damn horny little pre-teens_.

Once everyone was settled back down, he started handing out the papers. "You have two hours to finish the exam. If I find anyone cheating, they will get a zero!" He said. "You may start."

At that, all the students flipped the papers over and started writing.

…

The exam was easy enough for Ken to get a 100, but he chose to hide his skills and decided to only get a 60. Naruto on the other hand barely got an 85 while struggling. Now, they were all gathered outside for kunai and shuriken tests.

"Sasuke Uchiha," Iruka called out. Sasuke walked over to the testing area, his mighty-Uchiha aura in full effect, and took five kunai and five shurikens out of the box. Surprisingly only a few girls cheered and squealed, none of which was Sakura or Ino. After Ken and Naruto's little incident, many of the students had tried out the little experiment that Ken had told them to do and it had worked very effectively, making many of the fangirls stop fucking around and actually be serious about the ninja life. Ino had completely broken out of her fangirl phase and started training harder and harder every day. Unexpectedly, her crush had moved on from Sasuke to Ken much to the latter's glee – his seduction plan was coming along very nicely. Sasuke stood behind the line and reared his hand while taking aim. He let the knives go with full force.

Four thuds came from the target, signifying a near-perfect score which brought about lots of squealing from the fangirls, much to everyone else's chagrin. Next, he reared his other hand with the shuriken and let them go. Five thuds this time signified a perfect score. Cueing even louder squeals and making Ken wonder if he could possibly 'accidentally' make one of his grenade experiments fail and kill only the fangirls.

Ken, Naruto, and Hinata all sighed at once showing their disappointment that these people were going to be their comrades in the future. Unexpectedly, Ino also looked shameful that she was once like them. Iruka called on the next person. "Ken Uzumaki."

Ken stepped up to the testing area and picked up three kunai. "Sensei?"

"Yes, Ken?"

"What is the passing mark?"

"You have to get at least 6 out of 10 to pass this test," Iruka said quickly adding, "but you should try to get the most possible."

Ken nodded once. "Thank you, sensei." His hand blurred as the three kunai buried themselves into the bullseye all the way up to the handle. He picked up two more kunai and threw them haphazardly, making them fly **way** off target. Naruto and Hinata smiled, as they understood what Ken was doing. All three had spent enough time with each other training to know how amazing their skills were. Iruka merely sighed and put down a three for the kunai score. He also knew what Ken was doing but didn't exactly understand why. The rest of class, bar Sasuke, Shikamaru, and Shino, just looked confused. Ken picked up two shurikens and let them fly off target, just like the previous two kunai. He quickly picked up three more and again, all three hit the bullseye.

Sasuke gritted his teeth, feeling patronized while Shino showed no reaction at all and Shikamaru let out a weary "Troublesome…"

Iruka called the next person on. "Naruto Uzumaki." To everyone's surprise, Naruto got the same results as Sasuke but missing a shuriken throw (on purpose) instead of a kunai throw.

"Why did you get nine out of ten?" Ken asked confusedly.

"Huh?" Naruto said, not understanding what exactly his brother was asking.

"I mean if you wanted to downplay your skills, you should've just gotten the bare minimum. If you wanted to show your full skills, you should've just gotten full marks. But getting nine is basically showing amazing skills too, and sort of downplaying them which doesn't play any purpose at all… at least not to me." Ken replied.

"Nii-san… remember what you said to me a long time ago when we were going to go to sleep?" Naruto asked smilingly.

"No," Ken replied simply, "No, I don't. What did I say?" Naruto face-faulted at the simple thoughtless reply.

"Nii-san! You promised to tell me a secret that not even the Hokage knows!" Naruto replied pouting. Unfortunately, Naruto's reply was a bit too loud. While that may not usually be a problem, the contents were. A secret, not even the Hokage knows. Was Ken bullshitting or was he for real? Ken also noticed this but decided that the best course of action was actually just inaction.

"Oh yeah," Ken said as he thought back to that night. "I did, didn't I? Well, alright then. Get ready to get your mind blown tonight!" Ken reached up and ruffled Naruto's hair and the little blond leaned into Ken's hand.

As Ino, being the last person, finished her test, all the students made their way into the classroom for the final ninjutsu test. Again, all the tests – Kawarimi, Bushin, and Henge – proceeded normally with the exception of Ken and Naruto making Kage Bushin (without handsigns) instead of normal Bushin. That was where it started to get interesting. It seemed like Sasuke's pride was hurt. On top of already being shown up in the throwing test, he was also being shown up in the ninjutsu test. He was the rookie of the year, goddammit. He was supposed to be the best. So then why were two no-name orphans so much better than him. Sasuke had stopped caring about his clan name too much but he still cared about how skilled he was. He practiced **every fucking day** so why were Ken and Naruto, who he saw messing around regularly, better than him? In the end, his curiosity outweighed his pride.

"What was that jutsu?" Sasuke asked demandingly.

"That was the Kage Bushin. For those who have way too much chakra and cannot make normal Bushins this is what they use," Iruka explained as he went into his teacher mode. "Though the charka consumption is so high that normally no one under Jonin can use it safely. Ken and Naruto are exceptions to this fact, of course."

Sasuke bristled at the realization that he wasn't as good as the two brothers in any aspect at all. He quickly turned to Ken and voiced his concern, "Where did you learn it?"

"Woah…" Ken said with a gobsmacked face.

"What happened, Nii-san?" Questioned Naruto immediately as if rehearsed.

"I couldn't hear anything for a second there," Ken said seriously which earned a growl from Sasuke.

"I said, 'Where. Did. You. Learn. That.'," Sasuke ground out, this time a bit louder.

"Holy shit, it happened again!" Ken exclaimed. In the background, snickers could be heard coming from Naruto, Hinata, Ino, Kiba, Choji, and another girl called Hinoko. (A/N: She's an actual Naruto character. Search her up on Google.)

"Are you deaf?" Sasuke shouted at Ken.

"Nah," Ken replied, copying Kakashi's nonchalant aura. "See, I heard **that** just fine."

"Then where did you learn the Kage Bushin from?!" Sasuke asked again, getting angrier by the second. By now, his Sharingan was active with two Tomoe in each eye.

"Huh…" Ken said quietly, almost as if talking to himself but still loud enough for the whole class to hear. "Maybe I am deaf. I couldn't hear for a second there… again."

Naruto and Kiba couldn't hold it in anymore and both fell on the floor laughing their guts out while Sasuke stood there fuming. Ken also smiled and chuckled at the dirty looks the fangirls were shooting at him. Interestingly enough, Sakura was looking at Ken with a sense of admiration instead.

"Alright, you two," said Iruka, lightly smacking both boys in the head with a book. "Back to your seats. We're going to start handing out your headbands." As the two made their way back, Iruka spoke to Sasuke again, "Sasuke, it's not nice to demand where your friends learnt their skills from. Each person is entitled to privacy."

Sasuke merely scoffed and walked away but before sitting, he turned and faced Ken. "Ken. 8 in the evening. Training ground 20. Fight me."

Ken looked at him as if he grew another head. _Which dumbass would want to reveal their skills to someone else over a shitty little thing like_ _ **pride**_ , Ken thought. "Whatever," Ken shrugged Sasuke off and walked back to his seat.

As Iruka and the assistant teacher Mizuki started handing the headbands out, Ken mentally made a list of everything to do.

 _Okay so let's go over this. First, I have to accept the Hokage's ANBU offer. Then I'm going to see how much the work on the SCAR is progressing. Hopefully, I can have a full auto working by the end of the month. After that… uh… the jetpack- wait no, that was a failure. I wonder if I can design an Ironman suit. Guess I'll put that down on my 'To fuck around with' list. I'll also have to tell Naruto about my past life. UUUGHHH That's gonna be a mission. What else… OH SHIT! DANZO! I have to meet him tonight and see how the new ROOT agents are progressing. If everything goes to plan, I'll be Commander of ANBU and ROOT by the time Naruto is Hokage_ , that's when a small voice in the back of Ken's head decided to speak up. _**If everything is going according to plan, you've walked into an ambush.**_

"Right… of course. The Murphy's Laws of War. How could I possibly forget?" Ken tiredly mumbled.

"What was that Nii-san?" asked Naruto as he put on his headband. Ken looked on his desk to find a headband of his own.

"No, nothing Naruto," he said absentmindedly as he inspected the metal plate that was on the black cloth.

Never in his life had Ken ever worn something that showed that his loyalties were towards a group other than the JTF2 or a country other than Canada (bar infiltration missions, of course). He didn't know if he wanted to put this on. Was his country really gone? At the moment, his loyalties only lied with Canada (if it were to somehow come back) and Naruto. Was Konoha really worth it? Did he have it in him? Ken folded the cloth up and put it in his pocket, deciding to think on it later. He was going to be in ANBU anyways. He probably wouldn't have to wear it unless he quit ANBU and that was a long way off.

Naruto, seeing how his brother didn't put the headband on, decided to voice his concerns. "Aren't you going to wear it, Nii-san?"

"Nah," Ken said, "I probably won't need it anyway."

 **That** got the attention of every single Genin in the classroom. As excited as the class was… As loud as it was… All activity seized, and every single heard turned to look at him incredulously.

"WHAT!?" screamed Naruto, his eyes wide as an XL ramen bowl. "Nii-san… You're not going to quit being a ninja, are you?" he asked, tears already forming at the edges.

 _Ah… shit. Definitely not the best thing to say… or… maybe I could use this to my advantage?_ And that was when another crazy idea popped into the redhead's mind.

Ken sighed and looked as downtrodden as he possibly could, "I… don't really know, Naruto. This job…" Ken continued, leaning back in his seat and looking at the ceiling and putting his hands behind his head. "We're going to have to kill people. Sometimes even innocent people. It's going to be life or death on every single mission… every single day, hour, minute, second… of our lives. And in the end, you either get killed on the battlefield where you die all alone. There is no doubt that it is an amazing job, and very honourable. I respect every single shinobi in this village 100% and your dream of being Hokage is the most wonderful I've ever seen from any kid our age. I totally think you can do it. But I don't know if I can. Can I really kill an innocent child if the Hokage gave that order? If, on a dangerous mission I was lying on the ground minutes away from death, would I be able to say I lived and died without any regrets?" Ken sat up straight again and shook his head. It didn't go unnoticed by him that almost every single eye was on him. "But… that's just me. Don't let my thoughts get to you. You pursue your own dreams. I'm most likely going to quit and pursue a much safer job," he finished.

The class stayed quiet, contemplating their futures, wondering whether their classmate had made the right decision. Whether they should also quit. Finally, after a few long moments of silence, Iruka spoke, "You are all dismissed. Be back here tomorrow to find out what Genin Team you're on," said Iruka and walked out, leaving the class to their own devices.

Slowly Hinoko stood up and walked out the classroom. Following her example, all the others started walking out one by one. Fifteen minutes later, the only ones who were still in the class were Naruto and Ken. "Nii-san… were you really serious when you said all those things?" Naruto asked with a depressed visage.

Ken threw his head back and laughed out loud to the skies. "Hell no! Why would I be second-guessing myself, Naruto? You're my brother. You're going to be the Hokage, and when you're there, you're also going to need someone to protect you and help you. That someone is going to me, lil bro. I'll only follow you. Wherever you go, I'll be with you." Ken ended with a bright toothy grin that could rival even Naruto's.

Naruto's lower lip quivered, and his eyes shimmered with tears as he wrapped his arms around Ken. "Thank you, Nii-san," Naruto whispered, "thank you, thank you, thank you, I love you, Nii-san."

Ken slowly hugged Naruto back tightly. "I love you too, Naruto. And no matter what, if you need me, I'll always be there." They stayed like that for a few minutes and Ken combed his hand through Naruto's hair almost putting the latter to sleep.

After Ken and Naruto had their little bonding moment, both walked with each other on their way to the Hokage's office. "So… Nii-san?"

"Yeah, Naruto?"

"If you weren't going to stop being a shinobi, why did you say all those things in the class?" Naruto asked.

"Well… It's a ling story but I'll tell you all about it when we go to sleep tonight," Ken said as he reached over and ruffled Naruto's hair.

"Mou… Nii-san…" Naruto pouted.

Ken sighed, "I'll take you to Ichiraku's later," he offered.

"Deal!" Naruto shouted without hesitation as Ken just shook his head grumbling about cute little brothers.

The Uzumaki duo made their way up the stairs in the Hokage tower and arrived outside the old man's office. "Wait here, I'll be done as soon as possible," Ken ordered, subconsciously using his Commander tone.

"H-Hai," Naruto answered, caught off guard by the sudden change in demeanour.

Ken nodded once and knocked on the door. "Enter," came a voice from inside.

Ken opened the door and entered, his eyes immediately sweeping the room. _Shikaku-san, Kakashi-san, Hokage-sama, ANBU Commander Ryu, and Hinoko… Wait, Hinoko!?_ Ken closed the door behind him, walked to the middle of the room and bowed. "Hokage-sama."

"Ken-kun," the Hokage nodded, acknowledging the newly promoted Genin. "Do you have an answer ready?" the Hokage prompted, seeing how Ken wasn't going to approach the topic.

"Hai, Hokage-sama," he said, glancing at Hinoko.

The Hokage merely shook his head. "Do not worry about her, Ken-kun," he said with an approving smile.

"My answer is yes, Hokage-sama. It would be an honour to join the ANBU," Ken replied.

"I am very pleased to hear that, Ken. I assume you already know Hinoko-san here?" Hiruzen asked, gesturing to the girl standing off to the side.

"Yes," Ken said, not revealing a lot. The Hokage's smile grew wider. It seems Ken already understood many of the rules that shinobi should follow.

"She is also a fresh new recruit who will be joining ANBU with you and be on your team. Her codename will be Soku," the Hokage said with a nod.

"Understood, Hokage-sama," Ken said, then asked, "What will be my codename, if I may ask?"

"We will let you decide for yourself," the Hokage said with a smile.

That statement thoroughly surprised Ken. He thought the ANBU were given codenames by the Hokage, but here he was being given the chance to choose. Ideally, he'd want one form his past life, but he had had so many that Ken didn't know which one to choose.

"I'd like to be called… Neo," Ken said as he made up his mind.

"Very well. Agent Neo, here is your mask," said the Hokage as he handed him a mask with black and red streaks.

The ANBU Commander stepped up and offered Ken a hand which he grasped into a firm handshake. "Agent Neo. Welcome to ANBU."

"My pleasure, Commander," Ken answered, unable to keep the small smile off his face.

* * *

Now, I know many of you want Sasuke to get better, and trust me he will, but just not at the moment.

The pairings I'm not completely sure about. I want NaruSaku, but I can also make it NaruHina. I was thinking just NaruSakuHina. Let me know what y'all would like.

For Ken's pairing, I'm trying to show that he still has that trauma from his past life where he struggles to make real romantic connections. Like if it's a seduction mission he'd handle it, but if it's actually falling in love, he doesn't trust anyone to open up his heart to. Over time, I'll work around that issue, but it will mostly only be sexual relations for now. That brings me to my next subject: Do y'all want lemons? If you want a preview of how my lemons are, check out my other fic "Memoirs of a Loner" chapter 6 near the end.


	8. Chapter 7

Thank you all for your review and your support! I love you guys!

And with that being said, onward to the reading!

* * *

Chapter 7

* * *

"Now that we have that over with, I'd like everyone here to reconvene at the special ANBU Training Ground 23 at exactly 2100 hours. Is that understood?" The Hokage spoke as he looked at all his soldiers.

"Hai, Hokage-sama," came a chorus of replies.

"Dismissed," Kakashi, Shikaku, and Ryu immediately Shunshined out while Ken and Hinoko walked out after a bow.

As soon as they were out of the office, Hinoko turned to Ken with a smile and stuck her hand out. "I look forward to working with you, Ken," she said professionally.

Ken also smiled, remembering when he was first placed on a Special Forces team. Ah, the memories of working on all those illegal missions. "Likewise, Hinoko," he said as he took her hand firmly and shook. "How would you like to join my brother and I for some ramen at Ichiraku's? My treat."

Hinoko's eyebrows rose at being invited to eat out. She had a slightly tomboyish and introverted personality; therefore, she had never really made any friends during her academy years. Being invited out by someone her own age was a first. "I'd… like that very much."

Ken's smile grew wider at her answer. "Cool. My brother is seated just around the corner. Let's be on our way."

Hinoko nodded and followed Ken as he led her. As they stepped around the corner, Ken's eyebrow rose at the scene. There was Naruto. Yep, nothing out of the ordinary. There was another boy with a… was that stupid looking thing a helmet? And he was also wearing a blue scarf that was at least 7 sizes too long for him. Still, this would be normal… IF Naruto wasn't holding said boy by the collar of his shirt and glaring at him.

"Do you know who I am?" the little boy seemed to be saying. "I'm the Third Hokage's grandson, Konohamaru!" he exclaimed.

"I don't give a shit if you're the Fourth Hokage's grandson! Don't accuse me of something I didn't do!" Naruto shouted back at him and tumped him on his headtop.

It was at that moment when another shinobi with a black bandana and black sunglasses came up behind the two new ANBU recruits. "Honourable Grandson! Are you safe?" he asked. His eyes roved over to the blond and narrowed. The shinobi walked over to Konohamaru and took him by the hand. "Come, Honourable Grandson. You should not be associating with… this **demon** ," he spat out the last word in disgust.

Ken narrowed his eyes. That was the _**wrong**_ thing to say, "So sad that some people can differentiate between a kunai and scroll with a kunai sealed in it," Ken shook his head. "Let's go Naruto. We're going for some ramen!" He said cheerfully as he simultaneously started planning a murder in the back of his mind.

"Hai!" Naruto shouted in glee.

Ken quickly introduced Hinoko and Naruto to each other and the trio started on the walk towards Ichiraku's. During the trip, Ken stayed oddly silent which didn't go unnoticed by Naruto. Shrugging his shoulders, Naruto decided to ask his big brother about it later. All the while, Ken was tweaking his knowledge of hiding a body to fit this world better.

 _I guess I can just burn the body using a Katon jutsu… but that would be very flashy. Can't use acid because that would create smoke… I'll have to cut up the body and hide the parts differently. I'll tail him for a day maybe and see his personal schedule… no, wait… I'll kill him while he's in the washroom taking a shower. But the bang from the gun… guess I'll put a silencing seal over the gun. But again, there's still the bullet hole. Wait… if I take out the bullet and only fire the gun as is, all that hydrogen gas will combust right on his face. This really is something to think about. Great, more work. No! It's all to protect Naruto_ , at that moment, said boy's voice broke Ken out of his stupor.

"Ne, Nii-san!" called out Naruto as he ran ahead and stopped before Ken in the middle of the road.

Ken looked to Hinoko who was at his side and raised an eyebrow as if to ask, "What the hell is he doing?" Hinoko merely shrugged, answering the unvoiced question.

"Watch this. My new, original, Sexy Jutsu!" Naruto shouted and in the middle of the crowded ass street, transformed into a completely naked (he assumed it was naked since the privates were covered by smoke) female version of Naruto. "Hey," the blonde seductively said, "I'm Naruko Uzumaki. What would you like, sweetie?" He (she?) continued as she kept walking with unparalleled grace towards Ken. Naruko raised her hand and caressed Ken's cheek, "Would like dinner, a bath, or… me?" Countless number of men that were standing frozen on the street flew into the air with huge nosebleeds because of the sexy performance they had just seen, while their wives/girlfriends glared (10% angry, 90% jealous) at the blonde.

Hinoko stood there, frozen and speechless at the seductiveness that Naruko had just demonstrated, while Ken merely looked at the blonde with a raised eyebrow. They stood like that for a few seconds before Ken smirked. "I've gotta say Naruto, that was some amazing acting. Even the henge is flawless! Too bad this can't be used in the field." Naruko looked up at Ken and cutely pouted.

"What!?" She shouted. "Why not!?"

"Because, even if it's flawless, it's merely a henge," Ken lifted his hand and made to grope the little prankster in front of him. "If anyone tried to touch, their hands would just… pass… through?" His statement ended as a weak question as he felt a heavenly feeling on the palm of his hand. "What the fuck!? Why can I touch your boob? This is supposed to be a henge!" Shouted Ken in an extremely rare case of losing his calm.

"Uh…" Naruko said, now confused. "It is."

Ken's eyes narrowed questioningly before his eyes widened. "No… way…" He realized what was happening and slapped his head. He had been doing it too the whole time. How had he not realized this before!? Oversaturation of chakra made the technique a ninjutsu instead of a genjutsu. Damn… "Hinoko," he spoke seriously as he turned to the actual female. "You are not to speak about this to anyone but the Hokage. Understood?" Hinoko nodded, taken aback by the commanding tone in his voice. "Naruto revert back and let's get on our way to the ramen stand. I'll explain on the way there."

As they neared the ramen stand, Ken finished his lengthy explanation on the theory of Naruto's new technique, all the while laughing gleefully in the back of his mind at the number of opportunities that opened up. He wouldn't kill the shinobi who insulted Naruto in the shower. Oh, no… Ken would kill him at a much more embarrassing time.

While eating, Naruto again kept talking animatedly as Ken and Hinoko smiled and nodded at the hyperactive blond, occasionally adding some comments or laughing at a joke he made. As he ate, Ken noticed the glares of the villagers again. But… something felt off. Usually, 60% of them were directed towards Naruto and the rest towards Ken. Right now, though, it seemed like they were being directed towards **all three** of them. _Well, well, well, looks like our little Hinoko-chan has dirty little secrets of her own._

…

"Naruto, why don't you go home first. I'll walk Hinoko-chan home and then I have something important for Jiji," Ken said to Naruto as he paid for their meal. He immediately raised a hand seeing as how Naruto was about to protest. "I promise I'll be back before you go to sleep, and I'll tell you the secret today for sure. Please, Naruto?"

Naruto nodded, "Fine…" he said while pouting.

"Oh c'mon, don't be like that… I'll teach you something new tomorrow," and that was all the incentive that Naruto needed for his mood to do a total 180.

"Deal!" he shouted as he bounced away right after giving Ken a quick hug. "I'll see at home, Nii-san!" he said over his shoulder.

Ken sighed, muttering something about hyperactive blonds, and turned to Hinoko after he watched Naruto turn the corner. "Shall we be on our way, Hinoko-chan?"

"S-Sure…" Hinoko stuttered, still shy at Ken's use of the 'chan' honorific at the end of her name.

The newly-minted ANBU duo walked in comfortable silence until Ken finally spoke. "So why do the villagers hate you?"

Hinoko almost tripped on her own feet but quickly balanced herself. "W-What?" she asked looking at Ken with wide fearful eyes.

 _And that just about confirms it!_ Ken thought as he saw her reaction. "I saw the glares. They're usually only directed towards Naruto or me… but today they were split evenly between the three of us." Seeing as how they were standing in the middle of the street, Ken motioned with his hand for her to follow him. Hinoko didn't speak a word until they finally arrived at what was an empty playground. He walked over and plopped down on a swing. Ken waved towards the one beside him. "Come, sit."

Hinoko just stared wordlessly. "We're shinobi, Ken. ANBU now. The most elite. The most dangerous," Hinoko deadpanned.

"And I'm still 12 and I'll be damned if I can't act my age," Ken replied as if he had already been anticipating what Hinoko had said. "Now come sit with me. I have a feeling it's going to be a long story." Hinoko shrugged and plopped down just like Ken had on another swing. "Don't feel rushed. Take your time." Ken remembered something and quickly made a shadow clone to go talk to the Hokage, earning a questioning look from Hinoko but nothing else.

After a few long minutes, Hinoko finally spoke. "My mother died the day I was born. My father raised me until I was eight years old. We lived in a small modest home. I'd say we were the very definition of a middle-class family. Even though I didn't have a mum, my dad never let me feel the absence of one. To me, he was… **is** the best dad in the world. But then one day when he was on a mission and… well… something happened. No one knows what exactly happened, but it wasn't his fault. He was… he was…"

Seeing Hinoko start to hyperventilate, Ken calmly stood up from his spot. He walked over to her and put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Breathe, Hinoko-chan." Hinoko looked up, somewhat startled at the redhead in front of her. Her breath hitched at the smile that was on his face. So comforting and understanding, yet so full of authority and confidence. She nodded and also got up from the swing. Ken led them to a bench off to the side and let her continue.

"He was a fresh Jonin on a mission with three other experienced Elite Jonins. Apparently, it was a clandestine op, so all the information was destroyed but, on their way back, they had found a small secluded hut. According to my dad, the story goes that when they checked inside the hut, they saw a bunch of women. All completely naked, underfed, and scared. It was obvious that they were victims of human trafficking and… well… my dad and the others, being Konoha ninja, decided to help. After that, he said that everything was a blur but when he stumbled in through the village gates, days after the expected arrival time, he was under a heavy dosage of drugs. It took a week to get him back to health. After that, the interrogation started. When Konoha sent more shinobi to investigate said hut, they found the other three Elite Jonin brutally murdered and all the women raped, sadistically tortured, and killed in cold blood. The blame fell on my father because they found memories of him murdering the shinobi in his head and he was executed. Ever since then…" she trailed off.

"The villagers have always only seen your dad. Not you," Ken finished for her. She bit her lip and nodded. He honestly found it very impressive that she had not shed a single tear for the duration of the story. He turned to her and looked her in the eye. "But, I see you for who you are." He said with conviction in his voice. "You are going to be my comrade, my teammate, and I trust you with my life, Hinoko-chan. And now that we're teammates, we have to stick up for each other. Anytime you have any problems, I'll be here to help you. And when I'm here, Naruto is also here. You can count on both of us!"

Hinoko just kept staring at Ken with disbelieving eyes. She had told Ken about her life because if he had any qualms about being on the same team as her, he'd get it solved and over with. She had expected him to look at her with disgust and hatred. She was used to it, after all. But what she did not expect was for him to extend a supporting hand for her. Hinoko had never expected that someone would see her for her and not her father. She kept staring, looking for the slightest twitch in his face that would indicate a lie. When none came, she let her emotions roll free. Tears gathered at the corner of her eyes. "Thank you," she spoke in a voice that even Ken had to strain his ears for. "Thank you. Thank you so much, Ken," she said, this time a bit louder and smiled brightly at him.

Ken smiled back and put his hand on her shoulder to comfort her. "That's what friends are for right?" Ken said with a charming smile.

 _ **BA-DUMP**_ went her heart as she felt her face growing hot. "H-Hai!" Hinoko said with a blush that'd make Hinata proud.

Ken grinned inwardly at his plan flawlessly succeeding. Unresolved issues between teammates would only bring difficulties during missions. Not only that but if he seduced her enough, she'd be more susceptible to his manipulation which would be very useful in the future.

…

Ken and Hinoko spent the rest of the evening talking to each other and just hanging out in general before making their way towards the meeting point. They got there fifteen minutes early, but it seemed like everyone was already there… even Kakashi!

"I'm glad we're all here. Let's get this over with as quickly as possible," the Hokage said as soon as Ken and Hinoko reached them. "I have called you here mainly for Hinoko and Ken to display their abilities to each other since they will be on the same team. We will start with Hinoko." Hiruzen quickly explained to Hinoko to show the people around them 100% of her abilities using a training post.

She walked over and stood at a distance of fifty meters and pointed at the training post. Seconds later, a yellow light glowed at her fingertips and a chakra needle shot out, effectively putting a clean hole through it. "My chakra needles can be controlled in the air also. Not only that, but their size and what they do can also be changed. For example, if I want to make them paralyze or kill someone."

"Wow! That's actually so impressive," Ken said honestly. "It's a long-ranged attack that can be controlled and the only limitation you have is the amount of chakra and the number of fingers you possess. Hell, if you improve the speed, you might even be able to compare it to my pistol!"

"Your… what?" Hinoko asked, to which the Hokage cleared his throat.

"I am also impressed by your strength Hinoko-san. And your assessment was spot on, Ken-kun. Now we shall see how you have been doing with the Uzu 19," Hiruzen said and Hinoko moved out of the field and Ken took his spot. "Hinoko-san."

"Hai, Hokage-sama?"

"Watch very carefully. A few months ago, Ken-kun developed a new type of weapon by himself and he aspires to make it standard issue within our forces. This will be your first S-rank secret."

Hinoko's eyes widened. Developing a new type of attack was understandable. After all, she had also done that, but developing a whole new weapon? At this age? That was totally unheard of. She looked intently to where Ken was standing and saw Kakashi get ready for an attack.

Kakashi reached into his pouch and let five shurikens fly towards Ken. In less than two seconds, five loud bangs rang out and broken pieces of the shuriken fell to the ground.

"W-wait! What happened?" Hinoko asked as all she saw the shuriken fly at a speed only Jonin could throw at, and then sparks – which meant that they obviously collided with something.

"That, Hinoko-san, was the power of the pistol. Granted, it really depends on the ability and marksmanship of the person wielding it, but in the hands of someone like Ken-kun or Kakashi, it would be a force to be reckoned with," Hiruzen explained and gestured for the two shinobi to stop. As they joined them, Hiruzen began, "Kakashi, you've been taking the gun out to assassination missions. What is your evaluation?"

"Hokage-sama, I'd have to say… it's amazing!" Kakashi looked at Ken and saw a happy, relieved smile on his face. He smiled back and continued, "Honestly, I love it! It complements my Sharingan perfectly. I can aim much quicker and the targets never even see the projectile coming at them. Though the shower of blood afterward is a bit of a hassle to deal with, the speed at which it finishes the job more than makes up for it." The Hokage nodded with a small smile and turned to the ANBU Commander next.

"And what is your evaluation Ryu?"

"Hokage-sama, as I don't have the Sharingan, the marksmanship took me some time to get down, but it was easy enough. The only setback I see is the loud noise it produces. This weapon cannot be used in covert missions," Ryu finished.

"Actually, I was planning on putting silencing seals on them too. That will definitely solve the problem.," Ken spoke up.

"Interesting," Hiruzen said as he rubbed his chin. "And when might you be able to finish that by?"

"Maybe uuuuhh like two weeks?" Ken said with a contemplative expression.

Shikaku, who had been calmly observing everything till now finally spoke up. "Two weeks? You're really that proficient in Fuuinjutsu?"

"Nah, I use clones. Hehe, good thing they don't have any clone abuse law or anything."

"Well," Hiruzen began. "That is good to hear. Now if we're all done-," he was abruptly cut off by Ken.

"Actually, Jiji. I have a couple more jutsus I was hoping to show you. May I?" He asked politely.

"Of course, go ahead," the Hokage answered.

Ken nodded his thanks and again, walked into the middle of the clearing. "Kakashi-san, can you please come here also? I'd like to try this on you," he said to Kakashi. The copy ninja merely raised his one visible eyebrow but complied nonetheless. "Alright, if it gets too much for you, please raise your right hand."

"… okay?" Kakashi half asked. After all, how much damage can a fresh academy student do to an Elite Jonin?

Ken smiled as he dropped to one knee and put both hands in a Ram sign. He scrunched his brow and the others could see sweat slowly start to roll down the side of his face showing just how much he was concentrating. Kakashi lifted his Hitai-ate to reveal his Sharingan in order to see what Ken was doing. As he watched, Ken spread his chakra throughout the clearing, enveloping both him and Kakashi. A second later, Kakashi dropped to his knees and started wheezing. The Elite Jonin gasped for air, but instead, he just lost what was in his lungs. Immediately Kakashi put his right hand up, telling Ken to stop. Ken let go of the oxygen that he had pulled towards him and Kakashi finally gasped, taking in gulps of the life-saving gas.

"What… What the hell was that?" he croaked out to Ken as the Hokage and the ANBU Commander appeared in a Shunshin beside him.

"Are you okay, Kakashi?" Hiruzen asked, putting a comforting hand on Kakashi's shoulder

"Y-Yeah. Just need a sec to catch my breath… no pun intended," Ken who heard that chuckled from afar.

"Nice one, Kakashi-san. So? What'd you think?" Ken asked as he also appeared in a Shunshin in front of the Sharingan user.

"What was that, Ken-kun? What did you do?" Hiruzen asked. His inner professor slowly rose from its slumber, thirsting for more knowledge.

"How about you tell me what it looked like, and then I'll tell you how right or wrong you are. I'll also tell you how exactly I did that," Ken said to the Hokage as he figured that would be the best way to gauge how quickly his enemies would figure out his moves on the real battlefield.

"… Very well," Hiruzen nodded as Kakashi go to his feet. "It looked like your chakra invaded Kakashi's body and did damage to it."

"I think you pulled all the air out of my lungs," Kakashi added his thoughts.

"I believe you pulled away all the air from around Kakashi," Shikaku said as he also appeared.

"Hmm… Out of all you, Shikaku-san is the closest but still not completely correct," Ken said as he rubbed his jaw. "Remember how I explained that oxygen thing to you all when I showed you that fireball thing?" Everyone nodded as Hiruzen's eyes showed mild amusement at how Ken childishly explained it. Little did he know, Ken did that on purpose as to not come off as too smart. "Well," Ken began again, "I spread my chakra through the air – just like Kirigakure no Jutsu – and pulled all the oxygen towards me and the edge of the boundary acted as a barrier to keep more oxygen from outside from flowing in. I'm guessing if a Hyuuga tried to see the technique, all they would see is a haze. Anyway, when I did that, Kakashi-san couldn't breathe anymore." The way that Ken explained all that with a smile made all the adults question Ken's sanity. "If it was an enemy, I could've just pulled **all** the air and make a vacuum – though, that takes A LOT of concentration. The general belief is that chakra by itself cannot fill a vacuum but I realized a few months ago that that is wrong. Chakra **can** fill a vacuum but to do that, you'd need to oversaturate the place with it. Only people with large reserves – like myself, Naruto, Jiji, or Jiraiya-sama – can do it. Of course, since we don't want to kill Kakashi-san, I merely pulled the oxygen. Though… I need more practice because doing this takes too long, and any half-decent chakra sensor would easily recognize my chakra around them way before I even start doing anything. And secondly, this could easily be used as a… um…" Ken scratched his head as he tried to find a way to explain. "As a… sort of a… mass-knockout technique, y'know?"

"Why am I even surprised anymore?" Hiruzen murmured under his breath just loud enough for the other Jonin to hear. He was about to praise Ken but quickly bit his tongue. "I see. Thank you for sharing that with us, Ken-kun."

Ken grinned brightly. "No problem, Jiji!"

"Very well then. That will be all. Ken, Hinoko, you will report to my office at 0900 hours tomorrow and will be picked up by your team captain. Dismissed," The Hokage said and he Shunshined away. As did Kakashi, Shikaku, and Ryu merely seconds afterward.

Ken and Hinoko stood there for a moment, organizing everything that just happened. Finally, Ken broke the silence. "Hinoko-chan, did it look like they were all in a bit of rush?"

"Yes, in fact, that's exactly what I was thinking. Still… to develop a whole new weapon. You're a genius, aren't you?" Hinoko asked with a smirk on her face.

Ken chuckled. "Not at all, Hinoko-chan. I just love having fun. That's all! Well actually that, and I'm lazy as hell," he answered, making Hinoko laugh at the nonchalant way he dismissed a weapon of mass destruction.

Ken walked Hinoko back to her apartment and waved goodbye as he made his way towards the ROOT headquarters. _Let's see how far they got_ , thought Ken as he contemplated how to tell Naruto his secret.

* * *

 **Author Notes (It's long so if y'all don't want to read it, it's cool):**

Yo I was thinking: How would you like it if Ken and Naruto develop their own code language? Of course, me being me, the code language would basically just be slang. I know I sure as hell would have fun writing it. LOL

In this fic, Naruto's progress will be a little accelerated. He'll basically learn Sage Mode earlier and develop the Rasenshuriken earlier than in canon (He's gonna get much stronger in the timeskip). I'm not going to make Ken learn the Rasengan or make him sign the toad contract. I've sort of disliked the idea of a summon. Sage Mode is cool and all, but I absolutely despise the idea of making someone else do your fighting for you. If anything, I'll make Ken's fighting style like Tenten's. Storage seals that have a ton of guns and ammo in them.

I still haven't decided on the pairings, but they're a way off so I'll worry about that later. Sakura is confirmed for sure, idk about Hinata. Not that I have anything against her. It's just that with Naruto actually receiving attention and love as a child, he's much more subdued and takes more after Minato and Sakura's explosive personality is more similar to Kushina. As **Merchant of Blue Death** suggested, Kushina wanted Naruto to find a woman like herself. Idk guys, I need more reviews.

For the Chunin exams, should I kill the Hokage or leave him alive as an advisor to Tsunade?  
Should I kill Haku and Zabuza?  
What age would be appropriate for lemons?  
What would happen if you store something in a storage scroll and then burn the scroll? I'm trying to decide how to kill Hidan.


	9. Chapter 8

This is a very short chapter, but I didn't want the end of an arc and the beginning of another on in the same chapter. Sorry!

* * *

Chapter 8

* * *

"How are you doing, Tsuchinoe?" Ken asked with a smile as he saw the ROOT operative that had met him the first time.

"I am doing fine, Ken-sama. Thank you for asking," Tsuchinoe politely said with a bow.

"Geez, I told you to drop the 'sama'. Just call me 'Ken'," Ken said exasperatedly.

"I cannot do that, Ken-sama. Danzo-sama has ordered us to refer to all higher-ranking officers like that, and since you work with Danzo-sama, we also have to refer to you as 'Ken-sama'," Tsuchinoe finished.

"Yeah, yeah, I've heard it a million times," Ken waved her off as he made his way towards Danzo's office.

"Yo! Danzo! What's poppin', my g?" he called out as he pushed open the door while mentally laughing at Danzo's face.

"Ken. Please refrain from making such crude jokes," Danzo said as stiff as ever.

"Man, you're no fun… well whatever, can I see the latest reports on our new agents?" Ken asked as he plopped down on a chair in front of Danzo's desk. The veteran silently handed Ken five files which were just as silently received. Ken opened them one-by-one and read them all at an ungodly speed. "I still can't believe you did this man… Like shit bro, they were only children and you actually let the snake bastard experiment on them."

"As we have already discussed this, they were all orphans," Danzo replied with a steely edge to his voice. If there was one thing that Ken had figured out about Danzo, it was that he hated being reminded about his failures.

"Yeah, well… at least you could've used orphans from other countries… Whatever. What's done is done. Just make sure to never do this again."

"And who are you to order me around?" Danzo asked amusedly.

Ken looked up sharply with enough killing intent to make Danzo's breath hitch. "I am one of four Sealmasters in this village, Danzo. I have already placed over 2750 very well-hidden seals all throughout this facility including your office. All of them record everything that goes on in here and all are set so that on my command, or as soon as my heart stops, or if I don't send a signal before I lose consciousness, copies of the record scroll will appear in the hands of five people and about eleven different locations. Danzo. The moment you contacted me, you walked into a fucking Tiger's den. Your throat is and will always be in my jaws." For the first time in decades, Danzo felt true fear. Ken closed the files and placed them back on the desk. "Contact me when the second stage is complete," Ken said commandingly as he walked out.

As soon as the door closed, Danzo let out a shuddering breath and gasped for air. It was then that Danzo finally realized. Ken Uzumaki was not a child. This… boy… was a wolf in sheep's clothing.

Ken walked to the training grounds where he knew the new operatives would be training. He reached the room and opened the door.

"ROOM!" someone shouted out and immediately, as one, twenty ninj- no… soldiers. Yes. They were his soldiers. Twenty soldiers, as if one organism, straightened up and stood perfectly still at attention.

"At ease," he said as he walked in more to inspect them. Again, as one, there was a loud thump as all the soldiers stood at ease. Ken allowed himself a small smile at the discipline.

The inspection took a few minutes, but Ken came out fairly impressed by how well they were being trained. In about six months, he estimated, they'd be ready for active duty.

…

"I'm home," Ken called as he stepped in their home and closed the door behind him. Within seconds, the rapid pitter-patter of feet was heard, and Ken braced himself for the cuteness missile.

"Welcome home!" Naruto shouted as he launched himself towards Ken and glomped him. "Nii-san! I made some ramen for you!" Ken smiled at the bundle of energy he had come to love over the years

"Thanks, Naruto," Ken said as he messed up Naruto's hair again but this time it lingered on his head a little longer then usual – which didn't go unnoticed by the blond. Ken tried to anticipate how Naruto would react to his secret and all the scenarios that he ran through in his mind did not end well.

"Nii-san?" Naruto called out to his brother who was now walking towards the kitchen.

"Hm?" Ken hummed absentmindedly.

"You look troubled."

Ken jerked to a stop and hung his head. He slowly turned around with a sheepish smile and rubbed the back of his head. "Hehe, you can read me like a book, can't you?"

"Of course," Naruto replied, unnaturally serious. "We're family, after all."

Ken's hand moved up to his chest as he felt an uncomfortable feeling in his heart. "Of course, we are." He replied remorsefully.

"Nii-san, what's going on?" Naruto asked with trepidation.

"Naruto… It's about the secret I was going to tell you."

"What about it?" Naruto asked with a hint of dread in his voice, "You're still my brother, right?"

"Of course, I am, Naruto… How about we go to the bedroom and I'll tell you there? I'm sure you'll want to sit down for this." Ken said with a small smile and received an affirmative nod from Naruto.

Five minutes later, Ken and Naruto were both seated on their respective beds, facing each other. Ken, with his back and head against the wall, and legs extended. Naruto was seated on the edge, leaning forward, with his elbows resting on his thighs.

"Alright," Ken began. "I'll summarize first and then go into detail. If you have any questions, hold them for later. Understood?" Ken said in the tone he used whenever he was teaching Naruto. Naruto merely gave a firm nod. Ken made a hand sign and hundreds of security/privacy seals activated, briefly lighting up the room in an ethereal blue light. "Okay. I was… reincarnated from another world that is completely different from this one. That's the summary. To explain more, I'm not from this world. My past life was in a world that had no chakra, and yet, was so much more advanced than this one. I was the Commander of a special forces… group. Sort of like the ANBU of this world. I died in that world, and when I… 'woke up', I was a little child in this world." Ken took a deep breath and let it out. "Any questions?" he asked.

Naruto blinked. "Uh… so… you're actually an old man?" he asked innocently.

"… Bruh…" Ken stared. "I tell you I'm reincarnated from a world that is a million times more advanced than this one, and the first thing you ask me is if I'm an old man," Ken deadpanned. He stared some more as Naruto squirmed under his scrutinizing gaze, then sighed and finally answered. "No. I'm not an old man. I merely have more knowledge and experience than most people my age. That's all. I'll always stay a kid at heart," Ken finished with a smile.

"Okay!" Naruto said with a big smile and scrunched his brow as he thought about another question. "How did you die?"

"Heh. Got run over by the TTC," Ken mumbled with a sad look in his eyes.

"What?" Naruto asked confusedly.

"Ah, well… Hmm… Imagine this. A huge hollow metal block with wheels, alright?" Ken said going into the 'ancient aliens' pose.

"O… Okay?" Naruto said while thinking, _What the hell?_

"Now, that thing is actually built to carry, and transport people and it moves at speed faster than even Jonin can run at. Still following me?"

"Uh-huh."

"Well what happened was that a little girl fell and was about to be crushed under it, so I pushed her away and got crushed instead of her," Ken finished lamely.

"I… see… So, you died while saving a little girl from her death?" Naruto asked with raised eyebrows.

"Yep," Ken said with a small smile. "But I'm not sad. I had already lived my life to the fullest and she still had her whole life ahead of her. I'm happy that she got a second chance."

"WOW, Nii-san! You're so cool!" Naruto said excitedly with starry eyes, practically jumping at Ken.

Ken's chest tightened as Naruto complimented him. "Naruto, what did I say about saying stuff like that to me?" Ken reprimanded.

"Oh, right. Sorry, Nii-san," Naruto replied sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his head.

"It's alright. Any more questions?" Ken asked. Naruto climbed into his own bed and sat down how Ken was sitting – mirroring him.

"So… you used to be the Commander of all ninjas?" Naruto asked curiously.

"No. That world didn't have ninjas. It had soldiers. Actually, when I was alive, we we're in the most peaceful era yet. You know how we have 28 countries?" Ken started explaining the details.

"Yeah?"

"That world had over 200. And you know how not all countries have hidden villages? Well, in that world, we didn't have hidden villages. The countries itself had a military. All of them – well except Sweden – had at least three branches of the military. Now this is where it gets really exciting. The three branches were Army, which was land based combat. Navy, which was water based or underwater combat. And Air Force, which was aerial combat. It hard to explain this, but you know how there are boats?" Naruto nodded as his brain struggled to process this. "Imagine boats that fly in air. So high, that you can't even see them from Earth."

"What's… Earth?" Naruto asked, scratching his head.

"Ah! Well, that's what the planet was named. We had the sun, and nine – or eight – other planets. The only one we could live on was our own planet though." Ken said with a far-off look in his eyes. "We even travelled to the moon, y'know."

"Woah…" Naruto breathed out.

"Yep. But getting back, other than those three branches of the military, most countries also had a special unit of the most well-trained soldiers. I lived in a country called 'Canada'. Canada had LOTS of different units in the military, but all the special forces units fell into one whole… branch. It was called the Canadian Specials Operations Forces Command. I was the Commander of that," by now Naruto had his head in his hands. The information too complex to process and/or understand fully. "That is what I'm trying to create here."

Naruto's head shot up. "What do you mean?"

"The new weapon I created: that was one of the weakest, and most standard issue weapons in that world. Even common thugs could get their hands on it," Ken smiled as he saw the wide-eyed look on his brother's face. Naruto had seen what that… **thing** … could do. If that was the weakest, what would be the strongest? "The strongest weapon that existed… only five of those could probably level the whole Fire Country."

"But when you said that you're trying to… uh… create the… uh…"

"Yes. I'm trying to make a Konoha Special Operation Forces Command. Or for short, **KONSOFCOM**. The system that we have right now is extremely inefficient. When I was the commander, we had small safehouses and military bases all over the world. In each country there were at least three safehouses in strategic positions where anytime we want, we could mobilize the squads for surgical strikes. I know this is a little complicated for you, but you'll understand more when you get older," Ken finished his explanation and sighed. "There is so much to explain and tell but who knows how much time that would take."

"How… did you go to the moon?" Naruto asked one last question.

"Hmm… you know how we have exploding tags?" Naruto nodded. "Imagine a million of those." His jaw dropped. "Exploding all at once." His eyebrows rose. "In a controlled way on the bottom of another type of that hollow metal thing I told you."

"Your world was crazy, Nii-san," said Naruto as he stared off into the distance.

"Oh, you have no idea, bro" Ken laughed. "Oh, by the way, remember how I said I might not need my leaf headband?"

Naruto nodded.

"I joined ANBU. That's an A-Rank secret. Don't tell anyone." Ken explained shortly.

"A-ANBU!?" Naruto exclaimed, not believing his brother. _At such a young age!_

"That being said, now that you know this, you cannot tell anyone, understand? Not even Jiji." Naruto looked conflicted but nodded nonetheless. "Good. Now, I have so many new things to teach you. Make ten shadow clones and go to sleep. Through the night, I'll be teaching you all the things from Earth that would be relevant now."

"What things, Nii-san?" Naruto asked curiously.

"Well first off, I'm going to teach you a whole new language. Only the two of us will know it so that we can communicate in secret. Secondly, I'll be teaching you what we called on Earth, chemistry. That will probably take more than a week to finish. Next will be my personal taijutsu style. I've taught you Krav Maga, but what I use is a combination of Krav Maga and Systema," Ken rubbed his jaw thinking about what else to teach his little brother. "Oh!" he said as he snapped his fingers. "Sealing! By the time I'm done, I will redefine sealing for you."

"But that would take…" Naruto said as he realized it would take a lot of time. Ken walked up to him and rubbed his head, messing up Naruto's hair.

"Don't worry. With the use of shadow clones, it'll all be done in a week. Now get to sleep!" Ken flicked Naruto's forehead. "You have to be at the academy tomorrow. Genin team announcements will happen."

"Haaiiii," Naruto said and went to sleep as soon as he created ten shadow clones.

Ken looked at the clones and nodded as he created ten of his own and sent them off to teach Naruto's. He laid down on his bed and pulled out a notepad and a pen from a small storage seal under the pillow. It was a pad that Ken used to list his objectives and goals. He checked one off as he read through them.

 **Objectives:**

 **1\. Handgun (Finished)  
** **2\. Assault Rifle  
** **3\. Car  
** **4\. Airplane/Helicopter  
** **5\. Improvement of Village Security  
** **6\. Teleportation Technique  
** **7\. Satellite Missiles (G.I. Joe style)**

* * *

This is the end of the Childhood Arc. Now begins their real ninja lives. Next update will take some time cuz of studies.


	10. Chapter 9

First of all, I am so, so, so, sorry for this long wait. I truly have no excuses. I just hope to seek your forgiveness. Other than that, I had a little more info to put in the Author's Note. **I also got a new Twitter account. Follow TReaper999.** I'll post any updates for my fanfics or any questions I have on there. I'll also answer to DMs if y'all wanna talk.

 **Note** : Kakashi's new name: Wasteman-sensei.

* * *

Chapter 9

* * *

"So, let me get this straight," said Hiruzen as he rested his elbows on his table, clasped his hands together, and rested his chin on his thumb. "You are actually a man who was reincarnated in this world from another world that is – as you put it – 'much more technologically advanced' than this one?" He asked.

"Yup," Ken said making it popping sound with his lips.

"Hmm," he said, "and you didn't think about informing me about this before?"

"Well, I thought about it, but like…" Ken scratched the back of his head with a contemplative look on his face. "I dunno, this just felt like a good time, eh."

"Right… So, if I may ask, why did you choose to tell me this, and what are your plans now?" Hiruzen asked with a touch of killing intent which Ken didn't even notice.

"Weeeelll, I don't really have any 'plans' or anything. I just wanted to let you know about this and hopefully, offer you some help in making the village better. After all, I am…" Ken trailed off with a smile. "No… I **was** …"

"The commander of a special operations group. Yes, I recall," Hiruzen finished for him. He continued to ask more questions, "May I know what kind of special operations?"

"'What kind', huh? Hmm…" Ken thought for a long moment before nodding. "Okay! So, here's how it is," Ken began to explain. "This is going to be a long explanation, so you better get comfy," Ken said as the Hokage also nodded.

"What I'm trying to do is implement tactics and defences that Earth had, over here. The types to missions we used to do vary a great deal. We had the Army, Navy, and the Air Force as I already explained to you. I was the commander for the special operations which didn't fall into either or a combination of those categories.

"We did Hostage Rescue missions, which is pretty self-explanatory. You know, do your research, get approval from the prime minister, send a team in, strike hard and fast, grab the package, get out, debrief. Basic stuff," Ken explained quickly at which Hiruzen raised an eyebrow. The simplicity of the explanation spoke of just how much experience the boy had. "I'm sure the ANBU here does that too.

"The next type was what the ANBU mainly does. Direct Action missions. Stuff like small-scale raids, ambushes, sabotages, surgical strikes, etcetera. We had quite a number of special teams for that." Ken kept explaining and the Hokage simply kept listening at the incredibly educating lecture. "The next ones are some that this world probably doesn't know.

"We did CBRN crisis response. We had a special unit for Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear attacks."

"And can you provide an example of these attacks, Ken-kun?" the Hokage asked calmly.

"A chemical attack would be like… uh… well to compare it to this world, imagine Kirigakure or Sunagakure's poison attacks' intensity multiplied by thousands. It was basically like what the Yondaime did to Iwa, except without the use of an actual human, and a million times more brutal," Ken's eyes took on a tired look. " **Chlorine Gas** ," He whispered loud enough that the Hokage could hear. "Some countries used it on the battlefield to kill thousands of enemy soldiers. It was so devastating that when you breathed in the chemical, your lungs slowly filled up with fluids and you'd drown to death." The Hokage's jaw had slowly dropped as Ken explained this. What this boy had described… this wasn't an attack… this was large scale torture. "VX: hardcore muscle spasms and heart failure. Sarin gas: paralysis, then death. Phosgene-," Ken was about to continue but was quickly stopped.

"I… Believe I got the idea, Ken," the Hokage said. Ken Solemnly nodded and continued.

"Biological attacks were similar… it'd take too long to explain, but basically, they took a disease, and spread it through the environment, indiscriminately killing men, women, children, soldiers, animals… you name it," Ken explained with a nonchalant tone.

"That is… truly cruel," Hiruzen said with horror. He thought that maybe this thing called 'chemical attacks' would be the worst, but it got even horrifying and judging by Ken expression, the end of all this wasn't near. Hiruzen thought about his own village and tried to think back to the darkest missions conducted by the ANBU… All paled in comparison to this. Even Danzo would hesitate to do something like **that**.

"That's nothing. My world was much, much, worse," Ken said with a dark mood. "Anyway, moving on.

"I don't think I can explain radiological or nuclear attacks, but… for those, I'd say the aftereffects of the attack are much more devastating than the actual attacks. It caused mutations in the human body for generations to come and well… it was the very definition of destruction. I'll explain later.

"Next thing we did was combating weapons of mass destruction. Nuclear bombs were basically the perfect example of a 'weapon of mass destruction'," Ken went on.

"And by mass destruction you mean…" The Hokage prompted.

"One of them would be enough to obliterate Konoha and miles upon miles of the forest surrounding it," Ken said.

"I don't even know why I'm surprised anymore."

"Rest of the operations don't really apply too much to this world, except for maritime special operations, which I plan to create in the future."

"That's it?" Hiruzen asked.

"Hmm… The 427 Special Operations Aviation Squadron would come into play after I make a working airplane but…" Ken muttered to himself and trailed off. "Yeah," he said loudly again. "That's about it."

"Okay," the Hokage took a deep breath and sighed. "I'll… have to get Inoichi-san to go through your brain, Ken," he said with regretfully.

"Yeah, I figured. I don't mind, I guess… but can you please tell him not to touch any traumatizing memories, please?" Ken asked respectfully.

"Do not worry, Ken. The process shouldn't trigger any memories for you, though he will have to look at some," the Hokage explained reassuringly.

"Oh! No, no, no!" Ken said apologetically. "I don't mean for me, Jiji. I mean for him. I don't want him to be scarred for life."

"Ken…" the Hokage said with amusement. Here was a child – an experienced child, but a child nonetheless – worrying about a war veteran being scarred for life. "Inoichi-san is a veteran of the Third Shinobi War and head of Konoha's T&I department. I believe he will be able to handle it."

Ken answered unemotionally without missing a beat, "Has he ever conducted third-degree torture on an innocent child in front of innocent civilian parents to get even the slightest bit of information about the enemies from them?" he asked with a straight face.

That caught Hiruzen off guard enough to drop the pipe from his mouth and choke on air. "Ken…"

"Has he drowned a ship of thousands of survivors to protect the economy of a continent?" Ken said while looking the Hokage dead in the eyes. "Let me tell you a story, Jiji. You know, it was called the War to End All Humanity. WEAH for short. Half the world on one side, the other half on the… well, other. And this war… it wasn't a war for resources, or money, or power. No… It was much stupider than that. It was a war of fucking religion. You get that? It was a bunch of mindlessly fuckheads fighting over whose beliefs were right."

"Ken, wait," the Hokage said. "You don't have to-."

But he was interrupted by Ken once again. "No, I want you to know this. A couple of our countries sent spies into the enemy countries without getting approval from our alliance and what we found…" Ken took a deep breath, "What we found could make the word 'massacre' synonymous to… fucking… 'botanical garden'." Hiruzen didn't say a word. It was clear to him that Ken was merely venting and needed to get this off of his mind, so he silently sat there listening to the child soldiers' woes. "So, since we couldn't tell our alliance what we found because the spy mission was illegal, we had no idea how to convince the rest of the world leader to invade the enemy. That was when I received that SecOp. It was a team of ten. We secretly invaded… and we killed. Not the enemy. The Innocents. We killed around a thousand men, women, and children to make it seem like the enemy did that. That way it would be caught by journalists and reported and that would convince the alliance to invade the enemy." Here, Ken's voice dropped so much that Hiruzen almost had to channel chakra to his ears to hear him. "Then, once we made it back home, I executed my final orders. No evidence. I killed the other nine of my teammates."

Hiruzen paled. This was… he had no words for it.

"Honestly, Hokage-sama," Ken said, soullessly like a true soldier. "I advise you to not let anyone go through my mind."

The Hokage nodded numbly as his brain was still reeling from what Ken had said. Never in a million years would he even **think** about doing something like that. Hell, it wouldn't even be a passing thought. And yet this… this soldier in the truest sense of the word… He shook his head to clear his mind and spoke again. "Very well, Ken-kun. What would you like to do now?" Hiruzen silently cursed himself for having a shaky voice.

"I'll continue with my life as it normally is, but I have several proposals for you that could make the village safer," Ken said, reverting back to his usual self.

"Right. I guess I'll be waiting then."

Ken bowed and left the Hokage's office to report to where his team was supposed to meet today.

 **...**

The whole day was extremely boring for Ken. When he met up with his team with his mask on, the first thing they did was issue him his armour. Next, was testing of skills again, and after that was an introductory course into ANBU that explained the basic rules/code of conduct and the important areas in the ANBU HQ. This was something that made Ken cringe hard. _Seriously? Just one HQ? What if the enemy launches a surprise suicide attack?_ He thought, making a mental note to add 'improvement of ANBU' as one of the objectives.

Ken's team was a Special ANBU team. Officially they'd be a normal Genin team, but originally, they were actually rookie ANBU. Ken Uzumaki (Neo), Hinoko Kazahana (Soku), Emi (Yagi), and Tsubaki (Tsuru). Yagi was the infiltration specialist and Tsuru was the captain of the team.

While Naruto, on the other hand, was having extreme problems with speaking to people properly.

 **...**

"Team 7: Naruto Uzumaki, Sakura Haruno, Sasuke Uchiha," called out Iruka as he assigned the teams.

"Gang! We gon' be mad lit up in dis bitch," Naruto said with a wide grin earning weird looks from all his classmates and teachers.

"What… was that, Naruto?" Sakura – who was sitting beside him – asked, looking like he just spoke a whole different language (which he did).

"Ah! Sorry, Sakura-chan! I meant that we'll all have a lot of fun!" he answered immediately. Iruka merely shook his head at his favourite student's antics and went back to assigning teams.

 _Goddammit, Nii-san! Mans be lookin' mad sus, eh?_ Naruto thought as his scrambled brain was still trying to separate the two languages.

Iruka quickly finished up team assignments after Naruto's outburst and left, telling them to wait for their new team leader to pick them up.

One-by-one, different Jonin came and picked up their teams until they were the only ones left.

 **...**

Finally, after two hours of waiting, Naruto nodded to himself. "Aii, bet. I got it."

"Got what, Naruto?" Sakura asked from her half-asleep state. Her head was on the desk and her eyes just barely open.

"Our sensei's new name," he answered sagely.

That jolted Sakura out of her stupor. "You know who our sensei is?" she asked as she shot up from her spot.

Sasuke who was sitting on the other end of the bench clicked his teeth. "How the hell would the Idiot know our sensei?"

"Sasuke, we're going to be a team. Don't be mean to Naruto," Sakura said with narrowed eyes. She turned to Naruto. "And Naruto, do you really know who our sensei is?"

Naruto blinked. _Since when did Sakura start scolding the Uchiha?_ he thought. "Uh… No. No, Sakura-chan… I don't know who our sensei is, but I have made a name for them, and it is…" Naruto paused for the dramatic effect. Sakura leaned in and even Sasuke's eyes were on him. "Wasteman-sensei."

Sakura slipped off her seat and fell on her butt and Sasuke's chin slipped off his hands and face planted on the desk. Immediately Sakura was on her feet and punched Naruto on the shoulder lightly (very, very hard). "Naruto!" she reprimanded. "You can't talk about our sensei like that! They're a Jonin! They probably have something very important to do!" Sasuke merely scoffed at the pair and looked the other way.

Naruto rubbed his shoulder and pouted. "What kind of work makes you **two hours** late?" He muttered.

Sakura batted his hand away in order to rub his shoulder herself as an apology. "I bet it's some super secret, super important mission or something like that," she said, imagining how badass their sensei was going to be.

It was then that the classroom door slid open and a mop of silver hair popped in. "Yo!" said Kakashi. "Sorry! A black cat crossed my path, so I had to take the long way around."

"You were saying?" deadpanned Naruto as Sakura hung her head in defeat.

"I can't believe this…" she muttered and rested her head on the table as Naruto comfortingly rubbed her back. _His hand is so warm_ , she thought as their sensei spoke again.

"Roof. Five minutes," Kakashi said simply as he disappeared in a poof of smoke.

"He… He just…" Sakura said she shook with rage.

Naruto was going through precisely the same emotions. "THIS SUM BUUULLLLSHITT" he shouted as he flipped over the desk.

 **...**

Meanwhile, Ken and his team were on their way to the Hokage's office for a special assignment.

"Special Assault Team 9, reporting for duty, Hokage-sama," Tsuru said as they appeared in the Hokage's office as one.

"SAT-9. There is an emergency assignment for you. Approximately one hour ago, the Scroll of Sealing was stolen from this office. This will be a recovery mission. Recover the scroll, find the culprit and, if possible, bring them in for interrogation. Dismissed," the Hokage ordered quickly.

Tsuru took the folder from the Hokage's desk and SAT-9 shunshined out of the office. The squad reappeared on the deserted roof of a residential building. Tsuru opened the file and read out the report.

"At 1330 hours today – which is about an hour ago – the Scroll of Sealing was stolen from the Hokage's office. The Hokage himself was out for lunch and the culprit slipped in between guard shifts. Witness reports say they saw Academy Instructor Miz…" Tsuru trailed off and her hand started shaking.

Ken was just about to ask what happened before he remembered who Tsubaki was… Mizuki's girlfriend. Ken mentally sighed and criticized Konoha for having such emotionally weak shinobi as their 'special forces'. Ken patient ran out as the silence dragged on and he finally spoke. "Captain. We're ANBU."

That statement broke Tsuru out of her stupor and made her focus once more. She sighed and said, "We're supposed to rendezvous will a tracker squad at ANBU ground 5. Move out."

SAT-9 and Squad 5 of the Konoha Tracker Regiment (KTR-5) were blurs across rooftops as they focused on their target. KTR-5 was a squad of 4 that were specialized in Sabotage, and Search and Destroy missions. Each one was an Inuzuka and had extremely sharp senses. Four huge dogs ran alongside their respective partners in a completely professional way. It looked like the leader of KTR-5's dog was a Husky and the other three were similar to a German Shepard.

Abruptly, the leader, Inu-5 came to a stop and raised his fist, signalling everyone to halt. "Ashi, can you tell me where he went?" he spoke to his companion.

The huge Husky barked once and went off to sniff. The SAT-9 patiently waited by the side of the rooftop. A few seconds later a bark came from the dog and immediately Inu-5 gestured to follow him and took off at an incredible speed. The chase continued until we were well into the forests on the outskirts of Konoha. After a few moments, the leader once again stopped on a branch and his squad followed suit.

"Your target is 300 meters that way," he said as he pointed in the exact direction of where they could find Mizuki. "Our squad is purely a tracker squad so we wouldn't be of any help in a fight. Sorry for that," he continued. All squads of the KTR were purely tracker squads. As such, none of them were specialized in combat. They could hold their own in a fight, but if the objective was to directly assault a target then they were way out of their league.

Tsuru bowed her a little and replied, "Thank you very much for your assistance," and took off with the rest of her team trailing behind her.

"Captain, maybe we should make a plan first?" Ken suggested as he felt like she was going too fast. Rushing in head first, guns bla- kunai blazing was going to do more harm than good.

"We don't have time!" she replied hastily as she increased her speed even more. This wasn't good. She was thinking with her heart and not her brain. If something happened, Ken and Yagi could survive, as they had experience, but Tsuru and Soku would be in danger. Tsuru, because she was taken over by emotion, and Soku because this was literally her first mission… ever. "We have to hur-," the captain tried to say but was tackled by Ken.

"WATCH OUT!" he screamed and pulled her out of the way of a barrage of incoming kunai. Yagi and Soku immediately followed and took position around the sprawled out Tsuru and Ken.

"Captain! Neo!" Yagi called out urgently. "Injuries?"

"Negative," said Ken in an experienced calm voice as he searched the canopy of the forest. That's where he had sensed the enemy before.

"Ugh, sprain in left ankle probably," Tsuru said with a grunt.

"Fuck, I missed, huh?" said a voice from above them. All SAT-9 eyes fell on the figure of Mizuki standing above them on one of the branches.

"Orders, captain?" asked Yagi as she pulled a kunai from her pouch and held it out in front of her. Soku activated her chakra needles and pointed them at Mizuki. Ken was the only one who looked like he wasn't ready, but as they say, looks can be deceiving. Ken had his hand on the Uzu 19, ready to draw and fire in a split second.

"Incapacitate," Tsuru spoke with contempt. "If not possible, exterminate with extreme prejudice." You could almost hear the venom dripping off of her tone.

"Roger," the three ANBU said and all of them vanished at once. Before the mission had begun, they had unanimously agreed that Soku would be the first to go into the fight as she was the one who needed the most experience, and Ken was to support her if things got troublesome.

(A/N: I suck at writing fights so imagine this shit by yourself. LOL)

Tsuru and Yagi appeared on a tree branch far back with Yagi providing basic first aid. Ken stayed 10 meters away from Soku at all times, and Soku herself was exchanging heavy blows with the traitor. Kunai and shuriken flew all over the place. Soku pressed on, not allowing Mizuki time to make any hand signs. The fight continued for a couple minutes, but Mizuki was slowly gaining the upper hand. Soku was a talented individual, but she was not only lacking in experience but also in strength.

Soku's kunai slipped from her hand just for a second and Mizuki thrust his own kunai towards her neck, but before that could happen, a loud 'bang' rang out, followed by an agonizing scream. Soku, who had lost her footing a little during the fight managed to balance herself and as she looked up, she was met with the sight of a tremendous amount of blood flowing freely out of Mizuki's arm… well, at least what used to be an arm. Mizuki's arm was completely blown off from the elbow down.

"Soku!" Ken called out as he landed beside her and kept his gun trained on Mizuki. "Injuries?"

"Just a few cuts and bruises. Nothing much," she said as she calmed her breathing down. "Damn, that thing is really something."

"Yep," Ken replied simply as he landed beside the now-unconscious Mizuki. Ken quickly heated a kunai using his fire natured chakra and cauterized the wound. Just as he finished, Yagi emerged from the bushes, carrying Tsuru on her back. "Status?" he asked, subconsciously using his Commander tone.

"It's not a sprain, it's broken," Tsuru said sullenly. "You?"

"Soku – minor injuries. Myself – no injuries. Target successfully incapacitated and needs immediate medical assistance," Ken summarized his report.

"Well done," Tsuru said in the same solemn tone. Even if it was a success, no one felt like it. A shinobi had betrayed their village. This was not a time for celebration. As they were getting ready to leave, the tracker team appeared with a medical team in tow.

The leader of the Konoha Medic Regiment 2 stepped up. "Captain Tsuru, I am the captain of KMR-2. Codeword: herring. We'll take it from here."

"Thank you," said Tsuru and signalled for SAT-9 to move out.

* * *

Another question I had was that is it okay if I use the n-word in this while they're speaking slang or are y'all gonna be affected by it? I use it on a regular basis in my life when I'm talking to friends and literally, everyone says it regardless of race. Therefore, if you have concerns, speak now or forever hold your peace.

 **P.S.** I'll be posting an author's note two weeks after I post each chapter to answer any questions you guys have. When I post a new chapter, I'll delete the old author's note and post one after the new chapter. I don't wanna up my word count because of these.


	11. Chapter 10

Hey guys! Sorry for the late update but this chapter was sort of difficult to figure out where to end. I even had to erase it all and retype it a couple of times lol. Like I deadass typed out a 2000-word Ken-Ino date scene but then erased it just because y'all said it's still too early for romance. Another thing, I just wanted to say that by this time, all the Rookie 9 at least 13 years old. 14 in case of early birthdays or whatever but Ken and Naruto are definitely 13 years old.

 **P.S.** Okay so apparently, I've been typing "Kage Bunshin" wrong this whole time and NOT ONE of you guys thought of correcting me. SMH! My dumbass thought it was "Kage Bushin".

 **Warning:** There's a torture scene in this but like idk. I feel like it isn't even that bad but for some people who might have a weak stomach or something, beware.

* * *

Chapter 10

* * *

"Hah…" Ken sighed as he got home. "I'm home," he called out in a low voice in case Naruto was sleeping. The sound coming from the kitchen was evidence that he wasn't.

"Nii-san! Welcome home! Dinner's ready!" Naruto shouted out.

"Yeah, I'll be there soon as I change," Ken said and went to their bedroom to change. He came out in a loose tank top (that he had made on his own since this world didn't have any) and shorts. "Yo," he said as he took a seat on the dining table. "What's cooking?"

"Pasta," came the simple yet cheerful reply.

"Noice."

A moment of silence passed between them before Naruto finally spoke. "Wassup?"

Ken looked up in surprise and saw Naruto's worried face. "Whaddya mean 'wassup'?" he said. "Wassup with you?"

"Bro, I can tell there's something bothering you. Don't try to hide it," Naruto said, slightly irritated that Ken didn't trust him enough.

"It's alright, Naruto," Ken said resignedly. "I'm good."

"Clearly, you aren't. Talk to me, Ken," Naruto said. Ken had taught Naruto to not refer to him as 'Nii-san' as often since someone with a grudge against one could use the other as a hostage against the other in dangerous situations.

Ken sighed once again and look at Naruto. "Remember that bastard Mizuki?" he asked.

"The asshole academy sensei? Yeah. What about him?" asked Naruto, wondering what Mizuki had to do with Ken being in a bad mood.

"He turned traitor and tried to steal the Scroll of Sealing. That's what this mission was about. We had to catch him," said Ken.

"Okay, first of all, isn't classified information? Shouldn't you be not telling me that?"

"Nah, we can tell it to our family or the people we trust implicitly, so it's aii."

"Oh… okay. Secondly, what are you so worried about?"

"I'm worried that this village is going easy on the security, Naruto. Mizuki stole the Scroll of Sealing. First of all, Mizuki – a fucking Chunin – shouldn't even have knowledge of such a powerful weapon. Second, he shouldn't even know the location of such a thing. Third, why the hell was it located in the Hokage's office, and fourth, how the hell could a low-class Chunin possibly have the skills to dupe the ANBU guarding it. Either Konoha shinobi are incompetent as fuck, or there is a conspiracy involved," Ken finished his rant.

"Feel better?" asked Naruto with a smile.

"Yeah," Ken half-smiled. "Thanks, bro." As they ate their meal, Ken spoke again. "How was your day?"

"Our sensei arrived two hours late to pick us up," said Naruto with a scowl.

"Wha… Who the fuck is your sensei?" Ken asked, bewildered at who in the Konoha Forces could possibly have such punctuality issues.

"The prodigy of the village, son of the White Fang, student of the Yondaime, the one and only, Kakashi fucking Hatake," Naruto provided a grandiose explanation. Ken nearly spit his water out as he laughed hard at how annoyed his poor brother was.

"Oh, that's the best thing I've heard today," Ken said as he wiped his mouth with the napkin. "And your team? Who's on it?" he asked.

"Sakura-chan, and Sasuke," Naruto answered.

"Oh sick, I guess Jiji followed my advice and grouped the teams by specialty this year instead of ranking," Ken remarked, earning a confused look from Naruto.

"Huh? What do you mean?" asked Naruto.

"I mean, earlier this year, I looked at the Konoha Forces structure and how we organize our army. It basically depended all on talent – which is horseshit, by the way. There is the Academy program, and there is the Reserves program. What we graduated from was the Academy program. All the kids go in there first. They get three tries to pass. If they pass, then the teams are made using rankings. Top one with the bottom one. Usually, the Rookie of the Year and the Kunoichi of the Year are together with the Dead Last of the Year. I suggested to Jiji that he should instead look at the abilities of all the students and make teams based on that. It looks like he followed that advice this year," Ken said, finishing his explanation.

"Huh…" Naruto was silent for a moment as he contemplated the teams this year and realized Ken was right. Suddenly another thing struck his mind. "Wait, so what's the Reserves program and what happens to those don't pass the Academy in three tries?" he asked curiously.

Without missing a beat, Ken answered, "Those who don't pass the Academy in three years are then allowed a choice. Become a civilian or join the reserves. Those who are pussies become a civilian, while those who really love their country – sorry, village – do whatever it takes and enroll in the Reserves. It'd take too long to explain so I guess you can say that the Reserves is the dark side of Konoha. Those who go in there usually get trained in seduction and assassination missions and the really, really useless ones get trained for specific suicide missions."

"I… I see," said Naruto despondently. "Well, I guess if I was useless then they'd train me to be a weapon of mass destruction, right?"

"Yep. Because of the Kyuubi," Ken said. He had already told Naruto the truth about it the same night that he had told him about his past life. "Anyway, moving on, how did you do in the second test?" Ken asked.

"Huh!?" Naruto shouted, surprised. "You knew about it!?"

"Of course, I knew about it."

"Then why didn't you tell me!?" Ken reached over and flicked Naruto in the forehead. "Ow!"

"Cuz I'm not supposed to, dumbass. It's a test," Ken said amusedly. Naruto pouted but then sighed.

"Yeah, fine."

"Now tell me how it went," Ken demanded.

Naruto scowled once more and began to speak, but before he could, he was flicked once more by Ken. "Nii-san!" Naruto shouted. "The hell was that for!?" he asked indignantly.

"School your expressions. Your face shouldn't betray your mind. Neutral expression all the time," Ken explained calmly.

Naruto nodded once and put on an emotionless mask as he began to explain. "We passed the test. As it started, I immediately realized it was a test of teamwork. I informed Sakura-chan and Sasuke about it. Sakura-chan agreed immediately after hearing my reasoning, but Sasuke didn't feel the same way. We pushed Wasteman-sensei for a bit but as expected of an elite Jonin, we were badly humiliated. After that, he tied Sasuke up to a wooden post and left after giving Sakura-chan and me some lunch and strict orders to not feed Sasuke whatsoever. After he left, I sensed that he was still nearby watching us but still offered some of my lunch Sasuke. He refused at first but after Sakura-chan reasoned with him, he agreed. As he took the first bite, sensei appeared before us and told us that we pass. I believe a quote he used was, 'Those who break the rules are scum, but those who abandon their comrades are worse than scum'."

As Naruto finished his explanation, Ken raised an eyebrow. "Okay, first, what's up with 'Wasteman-sensei'?" he asked.

"The man came in two hours late. That's the least he deserves," said Naruto. His face twitched as he wanted to scowl once again but kept his discipline.

"Okay, understandable," Ken said. He was silent for a moment but then laughed out loud. "Man, this is hilarious though," Ken said.

"What's so funny, Nii-san" asked Naruto innocently.

"The Yondaime's student was Kakashi, and now Kakashi himself is teaching a mini-Yondaime," Ken chuckled and then went quiet. "Wait a fucking minute," he said as his head snapped to Naruto so quick, the blond could've sworn he heard a crack. A short moment of silence stretched out between them until Ken finally spoke with wide eyes. "HOLY FUCKING SHIT!"

"N-Nii-san?" asked Naruto with trepidation. "What happened?"

"I'm a fucking idiot, and so is every other shinobi in this village, is what happened. Now, get the history textbook, Naruto," Ken said with a shaky voice.

"Umm… O-Okay…" Naruto replied and left to find it.

 _I'm the biggest fucking dumbass on this continent. How did I miss this shit? It all makes sense now. The hair, eyes, Kyuubi, and the extra ANBU protection detail_ , Ken thought with his head in his hands.

"Nii-san?" came a voice from beside him and Ken jumped.

"Oh, shit," he said, trying to calm himself down. "Sorry, Naruto. Ah... Do something: open the Hokage chapter and flip the pages to where they have the Yondaime's information." Naruto obeyed immediately and did as told and handed over the book to Ken. Ken took it from him and found a picture of the Yondaime. "Bring me a pencil," he ordered. Again, Naruto promptly delivered. Ken took the pencil and got to work on the picture. First, he scratched out the long bangs the framed the Yondaime's handsome face. Then he drew three whiskers on each cheek similar to Naruto's. Ken finished and held up the book for Naruto to see. "Recognize someone?"

"Huh?" said Naruto intelligently. "Isn't that… No… N-Nii-san…" he said slowly. "This is a joke, right? You're kidding, right?"

"I'm not, Naruto," Ken said. "I think your father is the Yondaime Hokage, Minato Namikaze."

"B-But… that's not possible!" said Naruto, his emotions all over the place. "If that was true, then… then..." Naruto looked down and clenched his jaw. "Then why do they all hate us? This isn't true, goddammit! It can't be!"

"Most likely," Ken answered, "because no one knows this fact. Maybe a select few trustworthy individuals…" Ken trailed off as he started making a list in his head. _Kakashi, Jiji, the clan heads… maybe Danzo?_

"But then why… Why didn't Jiji tell us!?" Naruto shouted desperately.

Ken moved closer to his brother and comfortingly wrapped his arms around him. He rubbed circles on Naruto's back to calm him down and spoke slowly as the sobs that wracked his whole body subsided. "My best guess: either to protect you or to keep you humble."

"How?" questioned Naruto immediately.

"I'm sure more than fifty percent of the world hates the Yondaime. He probably had a lot of enemies. They'd send assassins after you. Get it?" Ken explained.

Naruto nodded into Ken's chest and spoke once again with a subdued voice. "What about the humble part?"

"Tell me if this sounds familiar," Ken started with a mirthful voice. "A kid knows what it's like to be lonely. The kid comes from a prestigious background. The kid is hailed as a genius for every little thing. The kid becomes arrogant."

"Sasuke," Naruto said without missing a beat.

"Exactly," Ken said, proud at Naruto for figuring it out so quickly. "There was a huge chance that that's how you'd have become if Jiji had released your parentage."

"But then why didn't he at least tell me?" asked Naruto again, this time more calmly as he understood the situation.

"Who would possibly trust a kid with secrets that huge? But other than that, you do understand why he sealed the Kyuubi into you, right?"

"Hmm," Naruto hummed in understanding before squeezing Ken even tighter. "Because being Hokage means you need to make sacrifices for your village. Even if it's your own family," he said solemnly to which Ken nodded in agreement. Ken was extremely proud that Naruto understood the need for sacrifice from such a young age. The brothers silently stayed in each other's embrace for a long time before Naruto finally calmed down enough to speak properly. "But I still don't like it," he said as he used his special attack: Chibi Pout.

Ken merely sighed and tussled Naruto's hair. "Alright then," he said. "I guess I'll make it up to you by letting you see me test my newest inventions," Ken said and mentally smirked as he saw stars form in Naruto's eyes. His smirk grew evil as he thought of a prank. He grinned widely and said, "that way I can also have a test subject!"

"Eh?" came a sound out of Naruto before the statement fully sunk in. "Fuck no!" he shouted and tried to wriggle out of Ken's grasp but failed.

"Chill bro! Issa joke!" said Ken as he laughed. "I'd never do that."

"Promise?" asked Naruto as he looked at Ken with squinted eyes and a pout.

Ken chuckled, "Haha, nah, I probably would though, styll!" he said as he dragged his squirming little brother back to his chair to finish their dinner.

 **...**

Ken was walking down the street towards the ROOT secret entrance after making sure Naruto was asleep. As he reached his destination, Ken pressed his hand against the door and injected some chakra into it. An intricate seal flashed green and the door swung open. Immediately, he was greeted by the sight of two ROOT agents on either side of the hallway, kneeling to him. "Welcome, Ken-sama," they said in unison.

"OI!" Ken shouted as he took a step back. "Can please stop fucking kneeling!? That shit feels weird as fuck!" Ken said angrily.

"Ken-sama," one of the agents said. "It is our duty to kneel."

"No, it isn't, dumbass! Both of you stand the fuck up!" he ordered, and the agents followed the orders instantly.

"Never will you ever refer to me as 'Ken-sama'," he spat the word like venom, "and never will you kneel before me. If you have to, call me 'sir' and stand at attention. That's all I ask. Spread the word."

Ken finished his reprimanding and walked into the base, intent on checking up on his personal squad.

 **...**

As Ken neared the barracks of his own soldiers, he heard a regular ROOT agent shout "ROOM!" He smiled faintly as he walked into the room and saw every one of his soldiers standing at attention. The timeline for their training had been pushed up by a lot and in the end, out of twenty, only six had made it through.

"Well… I see everyone is having a productive evening!" Ken said faking enthusiasm. He continued to walk around the room looking each one in the face. "You know, it gives me a swell of pride, knowing soldiers of your calibre will be leading the village someday." Ken's eyes fell on a bed and he smirked knowingly. "Tip of the spear," he said slowly, looking at the captain of J-Squad. "Edge of the knife," he said as he advanced towards the bed. "Crack of my… ass," he finished as he flipped open the cover to reveal a deck of cards and some money. [1]

"Ugh…" the soldiers groaned collectively.

"Chunin Yurika, what is my view of gambling in the barracks?" Ken asked as he picked up a deck of cards.

"You dislike it, sir," the young chestnut-haired kunoichi answered promptly. Ken nodded with a slight smile. And held out the deck of cards on his palm.

"Inaho, what do I dislike it?" Ken asked again.

"Because it entails the notion that our fate is in hands other than our own," the young man said.

"And what is my definitive position on the concept of fate, Okyou?" he asked the other kunoichi. All the J-Squad operatives walked towards Ken and picked one card from the deck, as they spoke at once.

"Through readiness and discipline, we are masters of our own fate," they finished and tore half of the card they were holding and put it into their mouths, chewing and swallowing it.

Ken smiled and looked at his squad. "At ease," he said, and they relaxed a little. Ken turned around to face the doorway and grinned. "How about that, Danzo? Like it?"

"I must say, I am impressed at how your soldiers can be so disciplined and undisciplined at the same time," Danzo said as he walked through the door with two guards flanking him.

"And yet, these six people working as a team can fuck up your entire ROOT force with the training they've gotten," Ken said with absolute confidence.

"And that is precisely why I'm asking you to do this," Danzo said as he mirrored Ken's smirk.

Ken turned back around and faced his soldiers. "J-Squad!" he bellowed.

"SIR!" they snapped to attention.

"Your first mission is to train the rest of the ROOT operatives in the 'Way of the Soldier'. Elder Danzo and I are putting our full trust into you six. You will break them down, physically and mentally, and then build them back up into true soldiers. Is that understood?" Ken explained. Danzo watched him with wide eyes. No matter how many times he saw this, Ken's commanding aura always had him incredibly surprised.

"Sir, yes, sir!" J-Squad shouted in unison.

"Danzo, did you make the platoons that I asked you to?" Ken asked.

"Yes. Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno, Sword, and Paris. Very peculiar names you gave me," Danzo replied as he eyed Ken questioningly. [2]

"Don't worry about it," Ken waved Danzo's concern off. "Yurika takes Utah. Inaho takes Omaha. Okyou takes Gold. Taji takes Juno. Ashi takes Sword. Hayase takes Paris. You will make sure the entirety of ROOT is combat ready by the next Chunin exams. Your main focus will be tactics, namely CQB. More details will be given tomorrow at 0500. Understood?"

"Sir, yes, sir!"

Questions?"

"Sir, no, sir!"

"Dismissed," Ken finished simply and walked out of their barracks with Danzo right on his heels.

Once they were finally out of earshot, he finally asked. "CQB?"

Ken answered, knowing exactly what the old man was asking. "Close Quarters Battle. There are three main points of CQB. Stealth, surprise, and violence of action. I honestly don't have the energy to explain everything at the moment. If you wanna know more, go ask one of the soldiers. For now, we have more important things to discuss. Let's go to your office."

Danzo nodded and followed. As they entered, Danzo took his seat behind his desk, and Ken took his across from him. Ken started before Danzo could speak. "You had ROOT agents watching Mizuki. Why?"

"Excuse me?" Danzo said, on edge that Ken had so easily found out.

"Why did you have agents watching Mizuki? It wasn't a bad choice, but you knew somehow that some shit was about to go down. How? Why? I want details," Ken commanded.

Danzo and Ken were silent for a whole minute, staring into each other's eyes before Danzo finally spoke. "I believe that is classified information. I cannot tell-," he tried to say but was quickly interrupted by Ken slamming his hand on the desk.

"Stop fucking with me, you bastard," Ken growled out. "One of the most powerful weapons almost got into the hands of a fucking traitor. You think I'm going to take 'classified information' as an excuse? You fucking put Konoha's military strength into jeopardy," he said calmly. If there was one thing everyone knew about Ken, it was that the angrier he got, the quieter he got.

Danzo scowled as he argued back. "And who do you think notified the Sandaime about the theft? I would never do anything that puts Konoha into danger!" He exclaimed.

"The point of having a military is to stop shit before it happens. Not take action after it happens. You should've had your ROOT agents take that bastard in as soon as he touched the scroll."

"That would reveal my forces to the Hokage. I couldn't do it."

"You think Hokage-sama doesn't already know about ROOT? Are you fucking stupid? Or are you just that deluded by your own fantasies. The Hokage, Shikaku, Kakashi, the ANBU Commander, and most of the experienced ANBU already know that ROOT still exists. Yet, they let you keep going since you haven't made any huge blunders. In fact, I'm sure they even know about me associating with you."

Danzo was speechless. _That… That can't possibly be true, right?_ He thought.

"Danzo," Ken spoke, bringing the old Warhawk out of his musing. "Tell me everything about Mizuki."

Danzo nodded once and started to relay all the information he had about the traitor. "The main reason I've been keeping an eye on him is because of a mission gone wrong. He was assigned to a Secret Document Recovery Mission. While on the mission, a teammate of his got injured. It was a serious injury but nothing he couldn't recover from. Officially, the teammate died from his injuries, but my personal ROOT investigation found that Mizuki strangled the guy to death so that he wouldn't slow him down."

"And you didn't think of reporting this to the Hokage?" Ken asked with a serious face.

"If I did, then I would have risked the exposure of ROOT," Danzo said guiltily.

Again, Ken was silent for a long moment as he just emotionlessly stared into the lone eye of the Warhawk. Finally, he spoke. "So, what good does ROOT do to Konoha in the first place, Danzo?"

Danzo narrowed his eye in anger as he spoke. "ROOT protects Konoha from the shadows!"

"And yet, you never take action when shit hits the fan…"

Danzo opened his mouth to refute… but couldn't say anything. He realized, Ken was correct. Even when ROOT discovered something important, they couldn't do anything other than just sit back and watch, in fear of being discovered.

"Danzo," Ken said as he stood up and walked away. "I suggest you either change your MO… or transfer all ROOT authority to me. I'll give you a month to decide." [4]

Ken Uzumaki had just given Danzo an ultimatum.

 **...**

It had been about two weeks since Ken had talked to Danzo. He hadn't received an answer yet – which was surprising since Danzo was a someone who liked to act in advance, but it looked like he was biding his time.

"Ken~," sang a familiar voice.

"Huh?" he looked up to see two beautiful turquoise eyes staring into his own violet orbs.

"Did you decide what flowers you want to buy?" asked Ino as she smiled at him with a light blush on her face.

"Ah… no, not yet. Um… could you help me choose, please?" Ken asked as he remembered what he was doing.

"Sure!" Ino exclaimed cheerfully, happy to be able to spend time with her crush.

Truthfully, Ken didn't need help choosing flowers at all. He had enough experience and knowledge to be able to name every single flower in this shop, and then some. This was all just an act to seduce Ino even more. Yeah, he told himself. That was it. He didn't like her that way at all. Nope. She was attractive, but he didn't want to love her, or to hold her like she was his, or to have her true smiles for himself only… Ken stopped in his thoughts as he gazed her. The way her long blonde hair bounced, and her glossy lips shined. The way she would shoot him those sly smirks from time to time.

"Beautiful," he whispered quietly. But not quite quiet enough apparently, as Ino abruptly stopped talking and blushed a dark red.

"W-What?" she stammered out.

Ken smiled a bit more. "The flowers," he said quickly. "It really shows how much they've been cared for."

"Oh… right," she said downtrodden as the blush faded a little bit and her grin faltered.

"But you know," Ken said as he stepped towards her and closed the distance until their faces were less than an inch apart. He slid an arm around her waist and pulled her closer. "I feel like the flower I'm looking at right now is in a completely different realm."

"K-Ken…" Ino said as she also brought her arms up to hold onto Ken's shoulders. Their faces came closer until their noses were touching. Her blush was now in full force, making an interesting contrast between her face and her hair. "My parents are home," she whispered out as she just remembered and tried to wriggle out of Ken's grasp.

"Then about a date sometime?" he asked as he held on tight. Damn, this girl had just recently hit puberty and she already had all the right curves in all the right places. Ken could just barely imagine what she'd be like when she got older.

"Yeah, sure! Now let go before they see us!" she whined, trying to sound commanding and failing miserably. After all, it's **is** pretty difficult to order someone when you've got a massive blush on your face, combined with a cute little shy smile.

Ken chuckled and loosened his grip. Ino quickly took a step back and turned around to hide from the embarrassment. _Dammit!_ She thought to herself. _**I'm**_ _supposed to be the seductive one. I'm supposed to make others stutter and blush._

"W-Well," Ino said as she composed herself a little bit and turned around again, only to see Ken's smug face. Immediately a tick mark formed on her forehead. "The hell are you smiling at?" she asked heatedly.

Ken chuckled once more. "Sorry, sorry, you're just extremely cute when you're flustered, y'know."

"Hmpf," Ino looked to the side to hide her blush. "So… when's the date?" she asked, trying to hide her excitement.

"Hah…" Ken sighed. "To be honest, I don't think anytime soon. I've got so much on my plate at the moment, I don't even have time for food sometimes."

Ino pouted, feeling like he was making excuses. "Then who're the flowers for?" she asked challengingly.

"Naruto and Sakura have a date tonight. Just doin' my lil' bro a favour," he said with a wry smile.

"Wha… HOW?" !?" Ino practically shouted as her eyes went as wide as ramen bowls.

"I honestly have no idea. They've been spending so much time together. Even for training. And them being on the same team helps things along as well I guess," Ken said, shrugging his shoulders as he paid for the flowers and accepted the bag from Ino. "I'll see you later!" Ken waved over his shoulder as he exited the store.

 **...**

Naruto smiled as Ken fixed his attire up. "Thanks a lot, Nii-san!" he said excitedly.

"You don't need to thank me, Naruto. This is what a brother does. Now, repeat to me what you're going to be doing on the date," Ken said as he finished styling Naruto's hair.

"I'll take the flowers with me and get Sakura-chan from her home. Then we'll go to Chouji's uncle's restaurant to have something to eat-,"

"Something which is **not** ramen," Ken interjected.

"Fine," Naruto pouted. "Then I'll take her to the Yondaime's head to watch the sunset."

"Good. After that?" Ken asked.

"Huh? I thought that was it."

"Didn't I tell you…" Ken trailed off confusedly. "Oh, wait. No, I didn't. Ugh, damn Kage Bunshin," he said as he groaned and rubbed his forehead.

"Kage Bunshin? Why did you make Kage Bunshin, Nii-san?" Naruto asked.

"I didn't make any. I just always have about a hundred alive at all times, working on my newest inventions. A bunch of them just popped a while ago and my brain just got fucked up. Anyway, after you watch sunset walk her home and when you drop her off, tell her what a great time you had. Compliment something specific about her. And then… well I guess you'll see her the next day anyway, so I guess that's it," Ken said. "Understood?"

"Uh… yeeeah… I think," Naruto said, scrunching his brow in concentration.

Ken smiled and squeezed his little brother's shoulder. "You'll do fine. Now get out there and make a woman happy," he said as he wished Naruto good luck.

 **...**

"NII-SAN!" shouted Naruto as he cannonballed on a sleeping Ken.

"Oof!" Ken woke to the sight of Naruto sitting on him with a huge grin plastered on. "What is it, Naruto? You never wake up this early." It had been about a week since Naruto's date and it seemed like it went extremely well since Sakura had kissed him goodnight when he had dropped her off.

"It's your testing day!" Naruto exclaimed.

"My what now?"

"Your testing day. You know, when you test your pew-pew-things," Naruto explained.

"Oh… yeah… that's today, isn't it?" Ken said as he closed his eyes once more. "HOLY SHIT I'M LATE!" he shot out of bed as Naruto got out of the way just in time. Ken immediately made ten Kage Bunshin to go get things ready for the demonstration of the new assault rifles and the car prototype he had invented.

"So, Naruto, how's it going with Sakura lately?" Ken asked as he got ready.

"Awesome! I've been training every day with both Sakura-chan and Hinata-chan!" Naruto said cheerfully.

"Both?" asked Ken with a raised eyebrow.

"Yep!"

"And… they're fine with it?"

"Umm… yeah. Why wouldn't they be?" Naruto asked confusedly.

Ken stopped making his breakfast to look Naruto in the eye and have a serious conversation. "Naruto. Do you like Sakura or Hinata?" Ken asked him.

"Umm… both, I guess," Naruto answered as he scratched his head.

"You like them both as a friend, but who do you like as a romantic partner?" Ken asked again.

"Well… I'd again say both… or none. Sakura-chan is fine as hell and she's hella strong too, but she cares about her looks too much. And Hinata-chan is actually pretty as fuck and super strong – she can even fuck me up sometimes – but she's very shy most of the times," Naruto explained. He paused for a while and then continued again. "But… I like them both very much!"

Ken blinked. "O… kay…" he said as he tried to process it. Naruto was in love with two different women at the same time. "Naruto… how do Sakura and Hinata behave with each other when you're not around?"

Naruto looked at Ken as if he was stupid. "How the hell am I supposed to know how they behave if I'm not around?"

Ken paused. "Oh shit, facts," he said as he laughed out loud. "Damn, I'm stupid as hell. Well, whatever bro. You can handle your own ladies, I guess. Just know that if you're in any trouble, I'm always here."

"Yes, I know that already. Now hurry up!" Naruto said, practically bouncing in place. "I wanna see the new weapons!"

"Alright, chill. Lemme finish my breakfast," Ken said as he started eating quickly.

 **...**

"Good morning, Hokage-sama, Kakashi-san, Shikaku-san, Commander," Ken greeted as he walked into the testing field in the afternoon.

"Heya Jiji! Oh, and… NO WAY!" Naruto said out loud from his position beside Ken. "Wasteman-sensei is actually on time!"

"Good morning, Ken, Naruto-kun," Hiruzen greeted back with a smile.

"Yo," Kakashi said lazily, not looking up from his orange book and Shikaku merely nodded his head in greeting.

"Neo," the ANBU Commander said in greeting.

"Huh?" said Naruto. "Who's Neo?"

"That's my ANBU codename. Now let's get to it, shall we?" Ken asked, getting a nod from all the adults. Naruto quickly ran over to them so that he was a safe distance away from Ken. "Now, let me give you an overview of what I'll be presenting today. I call these guns 'assault rifles', and they are basically just like the Uzu-19, except that it shoots farther, faster and much more accurately," he explained in the most basic terms.

Ken walked over to where his Kage Bunshin had laid out all the new weapons and materials to test and picked up the first assault rifle. An incredibly simple but just as reliable rifle whose design was based on the Russian AK-101. "Mag," he said and instantly a clone of him obeyed, giving him a magazine. Ken took it and inserted it into the rifle. A very useful modification he had made to this rifle was that it could be cocked from either side. Ken cocked it and pointed it at the target.

As a clone of his saw this, it said, "Testing. AK-101. 200 meters. Standing by, advise, ready to fire."

"Neo, ready to fire," Ken said as he flicked the safety off.

"Roger, 3… 2… 1… fire at will."

Ken squeezed the trigger and let the bullets fly. Within seconds, the magazine was empty and the poor tree that had been used as target practice was blown to smithereens.

"End of test," the clone called out. "Clear?"

"Clear," Ken replied as he cocked the bolt back to make sure there was nothing in the chamber. After he made sure, he flicked the safety back on. "Well," he turned to his audience. "How was that?"

"AWESOME!" Naruto shouted out loud.

"Agreed," said Kakashi and the ANBU Commander in unison.

Hiruzen looked at the weapon and then the target with calculating eyes. "Shikaku. What do you think?" he asked with a smile.

Shikaku opened and closed his mouth a few times with wide eyes. "Forgive me, Hokage-sama," he finally said. "I cannot provide a full analysis without seeing its battle capabilities."

"Well then," Hiruzen said with a smirk. "Good thing I have something prepared."

"Huh?"

"What?"

"Excuse me?"

Everyone standing there – other than Ken – turned wide-eyed at the Hokage who merely chuckled and waved his hand. "Nothing so drastic as live subjects or anything, of course. Ken, you informed me of this something called 'rubber bullets' the other day, correct?"

"Yes, Hokage-sama," Ken answered.

Hiruzen smiled as he rolled open a storage scroll and unsealed a huge box. "I had some made," he said simply.

Ken smiled deviously as he looked at Kakashi. "Kakashi-san. You wouldn't mind, would you?" he asked as Kakashi started sweating bullets.

"Uh… I would?" Kakashi tried.

"Too bad," the Hokage said. "This is punishment for being late all the time."

Kakashi took up his position a hundred meters away from Ken and unveiled his Sharingan as he took out a pair of kunai.

"Ready?" a clone of Ken asked them both.

"Ready," Kakashi said, resignation evident in his voice.

"Ready. Mag," Ken said as a clone handed him the magazine filled with rubber bullets. He loaded the gun and pointed it at the Copy Ninja.

"Testing. FN F-2000. Standing by, advise, ready to fire."

"Neo, ready to fire," Ken said, flicking the safety off.

"Roger. 3… 2… 1… fire at will," the clone said and Kakashi tensed.

Ken pressed the trigger, and 30 rounds fired in less than 2.12 seconds. Kakashi didn't even TRY to deflect any. Right before Ken pressed the trigger, Kakashi ran through the hand-seals: Tiger Hare Boar Dog and shouted out "Doton: Doryuheki". Immediately an earth wall, just large enough to hide Kakashi popped up and the 30 rounds embedded themselves into it.

"End of test," the clone said. "Clear?"

Ken cleared the rifle. "Clear. That was amazingly quick thinking, Kakashi," Ken said, truly impressed.

"Thanks Ken, fuck you too," Kakashi said, dusting himself off.

Ken laughed out loud. "Oh, chill out bro. The most that would've happened is that it **might've** broken a few bones. That's it!"

Kakashi looked at Ken with half-lidded eyes. " **That's it**?" he said.

"Yep! Anyway, what did you guys think?" Ken said, turning to the audience.

"Those were only rubber bullets. I reckon this weapon in actual battle, or in a war would dominate," Shikaku said, providing his analysis.

"My thoughts exactly. And not the pleasurable kind of dominates, either," The ANBU Commander said, getting weird looks from everyone except Naruto. "What? To each their own, right?" he asked indignantly.

"Riiiight…" the Hokage said. "Anything else, Ken?"

"Yes. The last one, I call a sniper rifle," Ken said as he walked over to another clone and picked it up. There is still something wrong with this, but I can't figure out what," he said before starting to mutter to himself. "It's probably the damn scope but… or maybe the rifling?" He quickly shook his head and started explaining aloud again. "Basically, this gun will allow you to shoot a target from more than… well… it'll allow you to shoot a target that you can't even see with your naked eye. I'm even working on trying to make it so that you can control the trajectory of the bullet mid-air."

"Interesting," the Hokage said as he rubbed his stubble. "We will be returning to my office to discuss further matters. Till then, you're dismissed."

Ken snapped to attention and saluted as everyone save Ken and Naruto sunshined away. As Ken packed up everything using his clones, Naruto called out to him.

"Nii-san! What about that 'car' thing you were talking about?" he asked eagerly.

"I'll show you in a minute. Lemme just pack all this up and we'll be on our way," Ken said.

"Okay!"

 **...**

Ken and Naruto walked into a clearing in a forest and Naruto's eyes went wide as he looked at the hulking metal beast in front of him. "Whoa! What is that!?" he asked.

"This," Ken replied as he walked over and slapped the roof of the vehicle. "Is what I call a 'Humvee'."

"What does it do?" Naruto asked enthusiastically.

"Eliminate the need for running from country to country," Ken said with a chuckle. "Sadly, I'm still not done making it so that everyone can drive it. Only people with lightning nature can for now."

Parked behind Ken was what you'd call a typical US Army Humvee. The steering wheel of the Humvee was made of metal which could conduct electricity from the person driving it and transfer through wires to the four wheels. Ken was currently in the process of making something like a battery which could store electricity so that people with non-lightning natured chakra could also make use of the sure to be a revolutionary invention.

"Why?"

"Because the electricity makes the wheels roll."

"How?"

"The steering wheel – which is this thing, by the way – takes lightning natured chakra from the driver – which is what you call the person operating or driving the Humvee – uses it like electricity and gives it to the wheels which have special motors which make them roll."

"Umm…" Naruto said as smoke started coming out of his brain.

"Hah…" Ken sighed and said, "maybe it'd be better to just show you. Get in! We're taking it for a spin."

Ken got in as Naruto rode shotgun. He placed his thumb over a circle and channelled some chakra into the invisible seal to unlock the wheels. He then placed his hands on the steering wheels and fed it some lightning-natured chakra. The Humvee roared to life and took off.

"AAAAAHHHHHH!" came a scream from the shotgun seat.

"SSSSHIIIIIITTTTTT!" came another one from the driver seat.

 **BOOM.** The Humvee ran right into a big oak tree and literally folded into itself.

Ken and Naruto both jumped out of the vehicle – or at least what was left of it – and surveyed the damage.

"My life just flashed before my eyes," Naruto said as he tried to calm his breathing. "It was pretty damn boring."

"Hmm…" Ken hummed as he tried to think of what went wrong. "I guess… too much power and not enough handling.

"Nii-san," Naruto screamed as he punched Ken on the shoulder. "You almost killed us!"

"Oh calm down you big blond baby," Ken said as he rubbed his shoulder and realized just how strong Naruto was becoming. _Damn, I've gotta up my training._ "I had it under control."

"If that's what you call 'under control', I don't want to see your 'out of control'," Naruto whispered as he shivered.

Ken mad some more Kage Bunshin to survey the damage and troubleshoot the problems as Ken and Naruto headed off to Ichiraku's. _I bet Ino would love to see my 'out of control'_ , he secretly thought.

 **...**

Neo shunshined into the Hokage's office. "Neo?" the Hokage prompted.

"Mission complete, Hokage-sama," he said to Hiruzen.

The Hokage nodded. "If I remember correctly, next week is a cover week," he said, to which Neo replied.

"Yes, Hokage-sama."

Cover weeks were when SAT-9 acted as a normal Genin team, doing normal D and C rank missions. It was tedious, monotonous, and boring but it had to be done for the sake of their cover.

"Very well," said Hiruzen. "I'll be assigning you a joint mission with Team 7 to the land of waves."

"Permission to speak freely, Hokage-sama?" Neo asked.

"Granted."

"Wouldn't this be a waste of money and resources for Konoha?" He had a point. Sending a rookie ANBU team and an experienced Genin team on a mere C-rank was ludicrous.

"Normally, yes. But this time, I have reason to believe that the client is lying, and it could be a possible A-rank. Of course, this is merely a hunch of mine, but…" the Hokage trailed off.

"Understood. Hunches and instincts have worked a lot for me too in the past," Neo said.

"I'd also like you to use this mission as an opportunity to test out your latest machines," said Hiruzen.

"Are you sure?" Neo asked. "Remember, we don't want secret info like this falling into enemy hands," he said warningly.

The Hokage internally questioned himself at why he felt like a subordinate giving advice to his superior when indeed he was the superior here. Then quickly realized that it was probably because the young man in front of him had been through way more than him and was probably way more qualified at leading the village than anyone in the whole village. _Maybe…_ he thought but quickly filed that line of thought away for later. "I don't think we have to worry about that. Kakashi and multiple ANBU have already taken the Uzu 19 out on different missions and someone has probably already seen it," the Hokage said reassuringly.

"Hmm… I guess this also lowkey helps us stay strong since rumours of badass weapons would make our enemies afraid," Neo spoke and once again Hiruzen felt like he was being praised as a worker instead of a boss. "Alright then. I'll take… Hmm…" He went quiet for a few seconds and rubbed his chin before nodding standing at attention again. "I'll take the P-90," he said. "It'll be much better since most combat will probably be close combat and the rate of fire is the highest out of all the others."

"That would be perfect," the Hokage said and Neo waited to be dismissed. He raised an eyebrow behind his mask.

"Is… there anything else, Hokage-sama?" Neo asked politely.

The Hokage sighed as he rubbed his temples. "I… Take off your mask, Neo," he ordered.

The Uzumaki narrowed his eyebrows. Why would the Hokage say that? Normally, this wouldn't be a big deal, but usually, when the Hokage told an ANBU operative to take off their mask in the office, it's either because they are being dismissed, or because they are needed for a super special mission that only they can accomplish. Nonetheless, the young ANBU complied and took off his mask. Gone was the prodigious ANBU, Neo, and in his place stood Ken, a simple genin of Konoha. "Jiji?" Ken asked.

"Ken… I don't want to ask this of you, but I think rather than wasting time trying to find someone else to do it, it might just be better for you to take a look at this situation," Hiruzen said cryptically.

"Jiji, can we please get to the point?" Ken asked, annoyed at the old man.

The Hokage chuckled a bit. "Of course. I know how to love efficiency so much. In short, our IE department has been unsuccessful in getting Mizuki to spout any useful information so far. I just need you to give them ideas. I'm sure you have a lot of experience in this, correct?" Hiruzen requested.

Ken blinked. That's it? That's all the Hokage wanted? "Bet. Let's go, right now! I'll make him talk in like 2 hours, tops," Ken said, brimming with energy.

Hiruzen raised an eyebrow. "Aren't you a bit too excited for this?"

"Eh…" Ken smiled sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head just like Naruto did when he got caught planning a prank. "Hahaha, my bad. I just haven't gotten to… uh… help Konoha enough so I'm happy to get the chance to serve my country," he explained on the fly.

The Hokage deadpanned. "Uh-huh… and just who do you think you're trying to fool?"

"Ah… That easily, huh? Well, it was definitely worth a shot," Ken grinned cheekily to which Hiruzen merely shook his head.

 **...**

The Hokage walked through the creepy hallways of Konoha's IE department at a sedate pace, followed by an excited Ken in his ANBU uniform, sans mask.

"So… uh… can I get an overview first, before I go play?" Ken asked.

"Ibiki – the head of the interrogation department has tried all the psychological torture methods to no avail. Mizuki believes that whoever he is working for will get him out of here for sure and has not given in yet. Anko – our best physical torture agent has tried everything short of killing or maiming, again, to no avail," Hiruzen explained as they walked.

"Hmm…" Ken hummed in thought as he spoke again. "Alright. Firstly, never give the prisoner the satisfaction of being acknowledged. Always refer to it as the filthiest garbage you can think of," Ken lectured as he continued. "Secondly, how… **alive** … do you need the worm to be?" he asked nonchalantly.

Hiruzen stayed silent in thought for a while before he finally spoke. "Keep its brains intact. If all else fails, we'll get a Yamanaka to force their way into it," he answered.

"Got it~," Ken said chipperly before looking at the Hokage with confusion. "Wait, why couldn't we just get a Yamanaka to take a look in the first place?"

"There is a seal on him which destroys his brain if a Yamanaka tries to force their way in," Hiruzen calmly explained.

"Huh… That's oddly specific," Ken said suspiciously.

"Yes, I believe so too. From that, we can deduce that whoever orchestrated this theft probably has a good understanding of the inner workings of Konoha. Our suspicions mainly fall on either Suna, Iwa, Kumo, Orochimaru, or… Akatsuki," the Hokage said. The fact that this was all highly classified information went unsaid.

"Who's Akatsuki?" Ken asked.

"A group of S-ranked missing-nin that have formed a mercenary group," Hiruzen said with a heavy tone that did not go unnoticed by Ken.

"Why would they attack Konoha?" Ken asked once more. The Hokage stayed silently. "Right… Classified information. Have they attacked us before?" Once again, the Hokage didn't answer. "Okay, so I'm guessing you don't really expect it to be them."

Hiruzen looked a Ken with an impressed look. "You really do have some fine deduction skills."

"Please, don't," Ken said with authority that bordered on insubordination and would've if Hiruzen hadn't known beforehand about how uncomfortable Ken got when complimented.

"Of course. My apologies," the Hokage said as they finally arrived in front of a door.

The Hokage opened the door and the four shinobi inside the room stopped at once to turn and bow to their leader. Ken's façade stayed perfectly intact despite his disapproval at the shinobi's easygoing natures. Hiruzen nodded his head in acknowledgement as his eyes scanned the room once.

"Hokage-sama," came the gruff voice from a man in a black trench coat as he walked towards the village leader.

"Ah, Ibiki. How goes the interrogation?" the Hokage asked kindly.

"Sorry, sir. No progress. The prisoner still believes whoever he is working for is much more powerful than anyone in this village. He believes he will be free eventually," Ibiki said with a frown.

Ken looked over the man. This was the head of the IE department, huh? Well… he certainly **looked** the part.

"I'm tellin' ya! Lemme cut a couple of limbs off! That'll get him talking!" came a cheerful/exasperated voice from the back. Ken looked over to where the voice came from and saw a woman also wearing a trench coat, just like Ibiki, but brown. He noticed that she showed almost no skin but was wearing skintight clothing. Ken smirked. This was a very, **very** effective technique for infiltration missions… in the short term. On a long-term mission, eventually, the target would get tired of the same eye-candy and move onto another woman.

"We've been over this, Anko," Ibiki said, facepalming while the Hokage merely laughed.

"Yeah, yeah," she replied. "Negotiation tactics with the enemy and whatnot. Buncha diplomatic shit." She turned away and pouted before finally noticing Ken. "Who's the shrimp?"

Ken chuckled. "I like her," he said amusedly.

The Hokage quickly intervened before any dangerous business could get started here. "Anko, Ibiki," he said, getting both their attention. "This here is Ken Uzumaki. He's a rookie ANBU who I'm letting take a crack at the prisoner."

"Hokage-sama, is it really okay…" Ken began but was waved off by the Hokage.

"It's alright, Ken. Both, Anko, and Ibiki are two of my most trusted shinobi," Hiruzen said with a smile. "I'm sure they'd love to help you out with whatever you have planned for our prisoner here."

"Alright, then," Ken stated as he looked back towards the two.

Ibiki merely nodded once, not one for introductions, while Anko, on the other hand, quickly hugged him, pushing his face in her breasts. "Hey, kid! Anko Mitarashi! The sexiest kunoichi in Konoha! Nice to meet you!" she said cheerfully.

Ken smiled mirthfully as she finally let him go. "Ken Uzumaki. Likewise," he answered professionally. "Let's go see the prisoner, shall we?"

"Hmm…" Anko said as she smirked at the redhead. "Completely unfazed by that, huh? You're a tough one."

Ken mirrored Anko's smirk. "What? Did you think a pair of boobs would make me blush?"

Anko's smirk grew to maniacal proportions. "Y'know kid. I have a feeling we're gonna get along really well."

"Funny. I feel the same way."

"Ahem," the Hokage once again interrupted before things could escalate. "Let's go try out whatever you wanted to, Ken."

"Of course, Hokage-sama."

 **...**

Ibiki, Hiruzen, Ken, and Anko stood side-by-side in that order as the looked at the hunched over form of Mizuki on the other side of the one-way mirror. He was sitting on a metal chair with his hands cuffed. The cuffs were connected to a table in front of him. His hair had been cut. He was missing teeth, fingernails, and toenails and there were cuts and bruises all over his body. Hell, he was even missing some fingers and toes, now that Ken looked closely. There were even burn marks over some places and

"Well, he's in a good shape," Ken said, breaking the silence.

"Hah," Anko laughed out. "I like your sense of humour."

"No, I'm serious," Ken said again. "He's in great shape compared to what I had been imagining."

Anko and Ibiki raised an eyebrow as they looked the 13-year-old completely unfazed by the scene while the Hokage merely shook his head. He seemed to be doing that a lot these days.

"Whenever you're ready, Ken," Hiruzen stated.

"Alright." He nodded.

Ken quickly made a shadow clone. "Head of Lima Squad. You'll be 'Prime'," he commanded the clone.

"Understood," Lima-Prime said as he exited the room at made his way to the room next door.

Meanwhile, Ibiki and Anko's eyes were wide as saucers as they looked at the display of professionalism. As the clone exited, as one, they turned their eyes towards the Hokage. Hiruzen carefully avoided eye-contact as he didn't want to go through explaining everything. Eventually, their attention was diverted towards the other room as Lima-Prime entered.

Mizuki's head rose as he looked at the person who entered. As soon as he recognized the head of red hair, he scowled deeply. "You fucker!" he spoke with a voice laced in venom. The clone merely ignored him and sat down on a chair opposite to him. "What the fuck are you here for!?" he said a bit louder this time. Lima-Prime's expression stayed blank as a slate as he just looked at Mizuki as if he was a pitiful existence.

 **...**

In the other room, Ibiki, Anko, and Hiruzen watched carefully.

 **...**

"STOP IGNORING ME! What the hell do you want!?" Mizuki's shouts got louder. Finally, as the clone deemed it enough, he spoke.

"Pathetic." Mizuki's eyes narrowed dangerously as he growled like a wild animal. "Just end your pitiful behaviour and tell me who you're working for."

"Your mother! Or wait, maybe your sister! It's so hard to tell them apart. They both moan my name in the same way, after all," Mizuki said grinning.

"Cute." Lima-prime spoke and the grin dropped off of Mizuki's face. "But seriously though," he said as he pulled out a dagger and a cloth out of seemingly nowhere and started polishing it. "What was that fuckhead thinking, attacking the strongest hidden village? Did he really think he'd get somewhere? HAH! What a dumbfuck!"

 **...**

"You've got some colourful vocabulary, kid. Mind if I use some of those words?" Anko asked Ken in the other room.

Kem smiled genuinely at Anko. "It'd be my pleasure!" he said, truly happy that someone liked it.

 **...**

"But again," Lima-Prime continued before Mizuki had a chance to say anything. "You were probably just a little test of the village security. Congratulations!" The clone leaned in a smile that would make Anko shiver. "You failed, you pathetic fucking waste of space. You were just used and discarded. Utter trash. Swine. Useless little maggot. Filthy insect. You are what is produced when a brick of shit has hate-sex with the rotting body of a rat carrying herpes."

"SHUT UP!" Mizuki shouted with crazed eyes. "SHUT UP! YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT ME! FUCK YOU! YOU'LL SEE! MY MASTER WILL BE BACK FOR ME! HE WILL COME BACK AND BURN THIS FUCKING VILL-," Mizuki's rant was cut off, courtesy of Ken boot in his face. His head drooped as he was out cold.

 **...**

"W-Wow…" Anko said, speechless. "That was…"

Her expression was mirrored by both, Ibiki, and Hiruzen. Ken finally spoke. "Did you notice? He called his superior 'master'. This way, we can rule out any of the hidden villages as no shinobi calls their leader 'master'. Secondly, not many people outside Konoha – other than high ranking or very powerful individuals – know about the Scroll of Seals. AS such, I am like 95% sure this guy's 'master' is Orochimaru," he concluded.

All the others looked at him with raised eyebrows. "Damn. You're good at this," Anko said again.

Ken immediately averted his eyes and looked away uncomfortably. "Permission to continue, Hokage-sama?" Ken asked quickly.

"Continue," the Hokage said. Truthfully, they didn't need much more information, but he wanted to see what other methods Ken would use. Ken nodded gratefully and quickly created and dispelled a clone.

 **...**

In the room, Lima-Prime gained memories of the conversation and permission to continue. He got up and detached the cuffs from the table and uncuffed Mizuki. He carried the traitor and put him down on the floor and moved the table and chair away. Then, Lima-Prime quickly went through a few hand seals and slammed his palms on the floor. "Doton: Tsuka no Tsuchi Souzou." Immediately, a block of rock rose from the floor and stopped at about waist height. The clone then picked up the unconscious Mizuki and laid him out on the block of rock. Again, the clone ran through the same hand seals, but this time, putting much less chakra into the technique. "Doton: Tsuka no Tsuchi Souzou," he said, and the rock shifted around Mizuki's still form until he was completely bound to it. It looked like he was completely trapped in the rock. Only his face and ears were visible.

 **...**

In the room, Ken quickly made another clone and handed it his Battle Sealing Kit. "Lima-Two," Ken commanded concisely. The clone bowed and left to go to the other room.

"What's that for?" Anko questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"Water drop torture," Ken said with a smile to which she scoffed.

"Too bad, kid. We already tried it," Anko said, insulted that he would think they wouldn't already try something like this.

"With whiteness and radio static?" he asked with a smirk.

"Huh?" Anko asked but Ibiki's and Hiruzen's eyebrows rose at the revelation. "Wait," Anko said as she also saw this. "What do you mean?"

"Watch," Ken said simply as he turned back to the other room.

 **...**

Lima-Prime turned his head as he heard the door open. "Boomer," he prompted as the second Ken clone entered.

"Breakthrough; Lima-Two," Lima-Two answered, completing the verification process. Every morning, Ken made a clone and decided on a verification phrase. Then he dismissed it, which spread the memory of the phrase to all other active clones. Every time clones that were made separately came into contact, they'd verify each other by making sure it wasn't a random person in a henge. It wasn't the best way, but the chances of that happening in the first place were slim to none. As such, Ken didn't want to make it overly complicated.

Quickly, without another word, the clones got to work. Lima-Prime once again did the same jutsu and created a large bowl in the corner of the room. Meanwhile, Lima-Two made a tiny chakra restriction seal and stuck it on Mizuki forehead. This way, his whole chakra network would be too useless to do anything. Then he made a few genjutsu seals. These seals were made so that whatever they were stuck to, they'd make the surface of that thing look white.

As Lima-Two went around sticking seals all over the place, Lima-Prime took the Battle Sealing Kit and made two seals. One sucked in a minuscule amount of water and transferred it into another dimension, and the other one took that water from that dimension and let it out. He stuck the first seal at the bottom of the large bowl, then did another justu and filled it up with water. He then climbed up to the ceiling and stuck the second seal right above Mizuki's forehead.

As the two clones finished with their duties, they received another order from Ken. "Come get the radio." Lima-Two retrieved a radio from the other room and placed it in the corner as he turned it on. He tuned it so that there was only white noise coming through and then nodded to Lima-Prime and dispelled himself. Lima-Prime channelled a little bit of his chakra into the second seal and dispelled himself. Immediately drops of water slowly started dropping out of the seal.

 **Drip.**

 **Drip.**

 **Drip.**

 **Drip.**

 **Drip.**

Mizuki woke up finally and desperately tried to look around… only to find that he couldn't move at all.

 **Drip.**

He flinched as the water drop hit his forehead. He looked up – the only place he **could** look at – and saw white.

 **Drip.**

He blinked rapidly to get rid of whatever daze he was in. Nothing changed.

 **Drip.**

"HEY!" he screamed. He heard his own voice, but that wasn't all. There was also another sound.

 **Drip.**

Once again, he tried to move. Once again, he failed.

 **Drip.**

"HEEELP!" he screamed, only to the hear radio static in return.

 **Drip.**

…

In the next room, Anko, Ibiki, and Hiruzen, all looked on with wide eyes at the scene in front of them. They saw as Mizuki slowly lost whatever composure he had and started breaking. Tears streamed from his eyes as he called out helplessly.

A satisfied sigh sounded through the room and they turned their heads to look at the only redhead in the room. "I hope that teaches him his lesson," Ken said with a genuine smile.

"And what lesson would that be, Ken?" the Hokage asked and watched as Ken's smile turned extremely scary.

" **Don't fuck with my village** ," he said in a voice that didn't go with his handsome face.

The Hokage smiled serenely as heard Ken words and reassured himself that he was making the correct decision. "How long will it take him to break?"

"Not more than 3 days," Ken said confidently. "I'd suggest you ask him questions at intervals of three hours. Each time he answers correctly, stop the drops for about thirty seconds," he advised. Anko and Ibiki nodded.

"Thank you very much, Uzumaki-san," Ibiki said professionally. "If you're ever considering joining the IE department of Konoha, you'll be welcomed with open arms." He finished with a genuine smile.

"Please, Ibiki-san, just call me Ken. And of course, I probably won't be joining, but I'd love to drop by sometimes, y'know," Ken said.

"And Onee-sama here would also love to have you visit!" Anko chirped up as she hugged Ken, smashing his face into her boobs.

"I'll be here every day if you promise to hug me like this every time I come," came Ken's muffled voice.

Anko threw her head back and guffawed. "Hell yeah, I will!"

"Bet!"

"Alright," Hiruzen said, getting everyone's attention. "Let's get going shall we, Ken?"

"Of course, Hokage-sama," Ken said as Anko let go.

 **...**

Ken and Hiruzen walked down the hallway as the old man spoke up once again. "You did a very good job, Ken."

"Hokage-sama…" Ken said uncomfortably.

"I know, I know," Hiruzen waved him off. "You don't like to be praised, but regardless, I was impressed. You have a very wide array of knowledge."

"T-Thank you, Hokage-sama."

"You also have that confidence that is needed to lead, and also the experience of a leader."

Ken stayed silent, knowing exactly where this was going.

"Not only that, but you've earned the respect of all the ANBU operatives and even many of the regular shinobi. You also have the skill to back it up."

Once again, Ken stayed silent, hoping that the Hokage would just get to the point.

"I'm getting old, Ken," Hiruzen said, finally giving up on getting a reaction from Ken. "The village will need a new ruler in a couple of years."

"With all due respect, Hokage-sama," Ken said, finally speaking up. "It's not happening."

Hiruzen sighed, knowing this was coming. "Ken, I truly believe that Konoha would prosper under your rule."

"Not happening."

"You could make Konoha the strongest among the five villages."

"Don't want to."

"You could find out Naruto's and your heritage."

"Not interested."

Hiruzen sighed again. "Ken…"

"Jiji! I'm not going to steal Naruto's dream like that!" Ken said, a little disappointed that Hiruzen would offer something like this.

"You wouldn't be stealing it. You would only be holding the position until he becomes ready to take it. In fact, you could even prepare him for it."

"I… don't want him to think I betrayed him…" Ken spoke softly in a rare show of emotion.

"Ken," Hiruzen began softly, only just now noticing that they weren't walking anymore and had stopped in the middle of the hallway. "I may not have as much experience as you do in reading people's ulterior motives or emotions, but I know for a fact that Naruto would never ever think of you as anything but the greatest brother on the planet."

"I… I'll consider it," Ken said softly as they started walking again.

"Thank you… but until you tell me your answer, I'm naming you as the acting-Hokage in case anything happens to me early," Hiruzen said and Ken just knew he wasn't asking.

"Understood, Hokage-sama."

* * *

Damn, this was a long chapter. I just want you all to know that next one is going to take a while. I'll try my best to write these as quickly as possible, but my final exams literally just finished last week and I got a job that is **very** physically demanding so it's a bit difficult.

Please post some reviews since they really help me keep my motivation up, and well, I hope you enjoyed reading this.

[1] Edge of Tomorrow reference.

[2] Names of Normandy Beaches on D-Day and I just added Paris because I needed one more.

[3] I refuse to use 'Torture & Interrogation' as a department name.

[4] MO: Modus Operandi


	12. Chapter 11 - You might want to skip it

I fully expect to lose at least, like, 15 or 20 followers because of just this chapter. It's a short one and it's sort of messed up. Idek what possessed me to write this. Honestly, the effects of this one aren't going to be felt until way later into the story so if you want to skip it. Please, do so. Also, this is a short chapter.

One theory I came up with was that if you focus on certain feelings when creating a Kage Bunshin, the majority of that clone's psyche will be dominated by those feelings. So, if you're thinking about morals and values while you create a Kage Bunshin, it will always take the morally high ground. If you wanna argue about this, PM me, please.

 **Warning!** To those who have high regard for morals and stuff like that, this chapter has some mildly fucked up shit. Mild for me. Idk for you.

* * *

 **Read at your own risk.**

Chapter 11

* * *

The young ANBU closed the door behind him as he entered 'the room' in the ROOT headquarters. Ken had designed it himself after realizing that the village didn't have anything like an operations command center. And the one that they had was way too vulnerable from all sides. The layout and architecture closely resembled the U.S. President's own Presidential Emergency Operations Center (PEOC). It had anything and everything that a group of 25 adults would need to survive for a whole month, ranging from food, water, and clothing, to guns, kunai, and grenades.

Ken entered the bedroom and activated the condensed seal array on the wall. Immediately, ten clicks were heard as all possible exits were locked tight and a 'hum' in the air suggested that the airflow was switched and was now being regulated by the military grade air conditioning system that was set up. Ken sighed and placed his hand in the ever so familiar sign as a 'poof' signified a clone being made.

"Special clone. Codename: Zulu," he said in English. The clone nodded and used Naruto's special transformation technique to turn into the girl version of Ken… though much older – _maybe 20 or 21?_ Ken thought to himself. Her crimson hair covered one of her striking amethyst eyes with part of her face, ending right above the shoulders. Her face was much narrower, her lips much fuller, and there was a sizable difference that could be seen on her chest. "Gotta say, I've got some good taste," Ken joked as he chuckled.

The clone stayed silent as she regarded her creator.

A deep sigh was heard once more as he steeled himself. Ken quickly utilized the same transformation technique to make it look like his past self. "Ready?" The voice that spoke was not Ken's, but Ethan's instead. He quickly made a mental note that if you know enough about the target that you're transforming into, you may even be able to change internal organ. In this case, it was the voice box.

"… No," the clone replied in a smooth feminine voice. "No, I'm not ready, and neither are you. I don't want to do this and neither do you!"

Ken took a moment to squash the feeling of disgust in himself as he continued. "Alias?" he asked her.

"Ken, this isn't right."

"Alias?" he asked again as he forced back the urge to puke.

"We already have the most fucked up sense of ethics in this world. We don't need this weighing down our conscience even more."

"Alias!" he ground out more forcefully.

The clone clenched her jaw and looked down. "Rise," she answered softly.

(A/N: I wanted to name her Touka but then thought otherwise.)

Ken stood up and walked towards the desk. He opened the folder and started writing.

 ** _Experiment: 420-69_**

Even with all this pressure he still snickered to himself. _Hehe, 420-69. The perfect number for this… act of… What the fuck am I doing…_ the grin faded as he continued with slightly shaky hands.

 ** _Subjects:_**

 ** _Ken Uzumaki – Living_**

 ** _Zulu – Clone (hereon referred to as 'Rise')_**

 ** _Research matter:  
Effects of intercourse and childbirth on shadow clones._**

 ** _Hypothesis:  
When a living object interacts with another object that is made of pure chakra, the effects can be seen on both subjects, but never before has a living object and a pure chakra construct been observed to combine and form a new object… or a living thing. As such, it is my belief that if masses of chakra – like tailed beasts – can have a consciousness, theoretically, humans should also be able to create such phenomena._**

 ** _Procedure:  
\- Location: PEOC  
\- Materials: Bed (mostly for comfort)  
Ken will have intercourse with Rise. Ken's chakra will be fed to Rise on a regular basis to keep her 'alive'. At childbirth, hopefully, the pain doesn't exceed the threshold. God, what the fuck am I doing?_**

"We're really trying to imitate God here, aren't we?" Ken asked with bitter mirth.

"Yep," Rise said as she started to undress. She laid down on the bed, clad only in her t-shirt and boxers. "But that's us, isn't it? The one with the massive god complex."

Ken put the pen down and stood up. "If this experiment is successful…"

"Konoha could possibly become the strongest nation in the world," Rise finished for him. "I know. But if it isn't…"

Ken stayed silent as he too undressed. He sat on the edge of the bed, resting his elbows on his thighs and burying his face in his palms. "High risk, high return."

And with those four words, he started.

Ken turned around to face Rise as she looked deep into his eyes.

"No one hates us more than we hate ourselves."

"I know."

He climbed the bed so that Rise was under him and Ken was on top. One of his legs was between her thighs, extremely close to her womanly parts. Rise's hands reached up and caressed his cheek. His warmth seeping into hers like a ray of sunlight on a chilly day. Her eyes softened as she looked deep into his own obsidian orbs. **_Eyes are the windows to one's soul_** , they say, but all Rise saw was darkness. His face neared hers and the volume of self-loathing that she was looking at was nearly palpable. Rise had to remind herself to breathe. Such was the intensity of his pain. She gazed into the abyss… and the abyss engulfed her.

In your eyes, lies your humanity. The being that you really are. Some put up barriers. Others mask it. A few rare ones lay it out bare for everyone to see, hoping that the saying ' _hiding in plain sight_ ' will work. But eventually, it always comes out. Rise's breath hitched for a moment, forgetting that she was merely an extension of him. She stared long and hard into those almost lifeless pupils of his and… she saw… beneath the war-hardened soldier, beneath the cold ruthless killer… was a lonely, betrayed teenager who had once decided to close off his heart to the world and take on all of its pain. A living sacrifice. A hero the world needed, but not one that it deserved. A boy, willing to make the choices no one else could. A boy willing to take any and every means necessary for 'the greater good'. A **leader** in every sense of the word.

Ken blinked, and it was all gone. The cold hard exterior was once again in place. He cupped her cheek and let his thumb slide under her eyes. Only when it came away wet, did she realize that she was crying. Ken chuckled. "At least now when someone tells me to 'go fuck myself', I can say I already did."

 _And there it is again_ , she realized. When the emotions got to him, he diverted everyone's attention by using humour. Mainly on himself. _Self-deprecation is the highest form of humour_ , he always claimed. But she knew. She knew why he said that since she was just another part of him. It wasn't a form of humour for him. It was a way to keep himself in line. To keep himself from becoming too happy. Time and time again, he had expected to keep his happiness, only for it to be ripped away from him ruthlessly by whatever higher force was guiding the universe. That's why he came up with a more permanent solution. Never be happy… and hurt yourself worse than what anyone else could possibly do to you. Another subtle clue that showed how scared he was to hurt others. To be rejected by them. "Please, Ken. Don't," Rise pleaded. "At least be honest with yourself."

Ken grin faltered a little but didn't fade completely. "What are you talk-,"

"You know damn well what I'm talking about," she said as her arms wrapped around his neck and brought him down. His lips touched hers softly. It was slow and comforting. Almost as if real emotions were transmitted between them… and maybe for a second, they were. But Ken immediately pulled back and his face contorted once more in disgust. "If you can't trust yourself, who else is there?" Rise asked him.

"I do trust myself. I'm always honest with myself," Ken said as he looked into her eyes.

 _Ah_ , Rise thought amusedly. _So that's the trained soldier that surfaces when in a conflict._ His eyes were fixed on hers – something that would show that he was not lying… that was merely basic training that reflexively came into play here. He knew it. She knew it. He knew that she knew it. "Really?" she asked. "Because it doesn't look like that's the case right now. Why are you lying to me?"

"Cuz you're not me."

"Are you even listening to yourself, Ken? What am I?"

Silence was his answer.

"I'm a clone of yours, Ken."

"That's not the point-,"

"Yes, it is! That's the **main** point! I am you. And you're lying to me."

Ken closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "This was a mistake."

"Yes. Yes, it was. But you knew that since the first time this thought entered your head. And even if you know it now, you're not going to stop, are you?"

"No."

"Of course, you aren't. Because you promised to do the things that no one else would do. Who was that promise made to? Why have you kept it? Why was it made in the first place?"

"Let's just get this over with," Ken said as he started undressing quickly.

"I don't mind," said Rise as she also took off her shirt. Her beautiful breasts were laid bare for Ken to see. Ken didn't pay it any mind and was completely unfazed by it. He had seen enough in his life. "But," she continued. "I still want those answers." The boxers came off and Ken was surprised to see that she was actually wet. Seeing his surprise, she smirked. "You're a hot guy, y'know. If you change me into a woman, my urges and preferences are also going to change."

"Which proves my point. You're not me."

"Oh, I am definitely still you. Your memories. Your personality. Your phobias. Your philophobia."

Ken whipped his head at her. "I do not have philophobia," he said darkly.

Rise chuckled. "Denial is the first stage, after all."

Ken clenched his fists and took a deep shuddering breath. "Tell me, if we're the same, then why are our thought processes and beliefs so different?"

"Who says they're different? I am a much deeper part of your psyche. The part that you had thought you crushed a long time ago."

"No, you aren't."

"Yes, I am. You don't even believe your own words, Ken. Stop denying it."

"FUCK!" Ken said loudly as he buried his face in his hands. He pulled out his gun from his pants that were on the floor and aimed it at Rise's head. "I'll just make another one," he said.

Rise merely looked at him from her comfortable spot on the bed where she was lying. "Why are you explaining that to me? I already know what you're thinking." She smirked at his silence. "You know why? It's because you're looking for confirmation that it's okay to do this. But I won't give you that. Instead, I'll be real with you. This is unprofessional. What we are doing is an experiment… and changing one of the subjects now… it's the peak of malpractice."

"No one will know."

"You're right. But will you be able to live with yourself? Will you be able to live with the curiosity?"

Again, silence was his answer.

"Or… we can cancel the experiment-,"

"NO!" Ken put the gun back and undressed completely. He went and got on top of Rise once more. "We're not cancelling this. I'll bear it."

Rise looked and the conviction in his eyes and nodded, telling him to continue. "Maybe this can be two experiments in one. The effects of intercourse with clones, and the effects of it on the human mind."

His lips came down upon hers, effectively shutting her up. Not comforting or soft like last time but with fiery passion instead. Her hands raked through his hair and he shuddered in pleasure. His hands navigated her shapely body and felt her tremble with unrestrained lust. Their tongues wrestled for dominance as the springs coiled tighter and tighter in their lower regions. Their mouths separated for a moment to catch their breath before Ken went straight back to it. Only this time, he latched onto Rise's neck. Ken used his experience to vacuum right above her pulse point.

"Ahn! Ken!" Rise moaned as she thrust her hips up to grind against him.

Feeling her softness on his member, Ken's restraint on his lust finally broke. He lined up with her opening and looked at her. She looked into his eyes and understood the warning. _There's no going back after this_.

Rise nodded.

Without hesitation, Ken plunged deep into her. "AHHNN FUCCKKK!" she screamed in pleasure as her back arched and her eyes clenched. A few seconds passed as her orgasm subsided and she started rolling her hips again. Ken's jaw clenched as he shoved away all thoughts of morals or values and started thrusting like a piston. "AH! Ah! Oh! Yeah! Fuck! Yes! MHm! Hah!" A variety of sounds escaped Rise's mouth accompanied by Ken's quieter grunts.

Seeing his counterpart's face contorted so deeply in pleasure awoke something deep within him. Ken's hands went up to Rise bouncy bosom and massaged with incredible dexterity. His face dropped down and once more their tongues started dancing with fluid motions. Rise moans increased intensity and so did her thrusts. Ken copied her, not wanting to be left behind by… himself. Sounds of flesh slapping against flesh filled the room.

The spring in Rise's navel tightened more and more until it finally snapped. "AHHNNN!" she screamed as her walls tightened around Ken and sucked him as if a black hole itself had appeared in her. Ken also groaned as he felt his own release. Wave after wave of seed was emptied inside her. Rise felt herself fill to the brim and then some as it overflowed and dripped down on her legs and the sheets.

Ken pulled out and fell on the bed beside her, both of them breathing heavily. A moment of silence passed; the young man and his clone trying to catch their breaths.

"Well, that was fun," said Rise as she turned around and snaked her arms around Ken. She pulled herself close and rested her head beside his own, giving him a chaste peck on the cheek.

Ken glanced at her before promptly removing himself from her embrace and making his way to the bathroom to wash himself off.

"Aww, c'mon on! You still have so much time. Sleep with me for a bit," Rise teased as she called out to him. Silence was his answer. She pouted as she heard the shower turn on. "I guess I did go too far with the mind games," she said before falling into a deep slumber. A serene smile on her face was the only indication of what she was feeling.

* * *

I'm... I'm sorry, okay? Idk what to say. Please review, I guess?


	13. Chapter 12

I'm late, I know. And I'm sorry. I was stuck on a few portions of this chapter and just didn't know where to finish it so it took longer than expected. Also, I don't really know when the next update will be, to be honest, but it probably won't be here until the end of the semester.

 **P.S.** If you didn't read that last chapter – very good choice, by the way – Ken basically has intercourse with his own shadow clone (female version) with the intent of getting her pregnant.

Now, onwards to the (relatively) normal story.

* * *

 **Chapter 12**

* * *

SAT-9 walked at a sedate pace in a wedge formation behind Team 7 who walked in a diamond formation around their client. Ken had tried to explain to Kakashi that Team 7's formation wasn't as effective as it seemed, but the copy ninja had merely waved his worries away saying, "it has always worked before. No reason it won't now." And that's when Ken had gotten that itch in the back of his brain.

"Man, this is so boring!" Naruto yelled out loud from his position to the left of the client. Ken sighed at his energetic little brother and called out to him.

"Naruto."

"Hmm?" the blond replied, hoping for something to keep him occupied on this long boring journey. Did he mention that it was boring? Because it was. Very, very, boring.

"Law number nine," Ken prompted and said nothing else.

It took a second for his little brother to figure out what Ken was trying to say. Naruto scrunched his face in thought as he remembered. "Ah! If everything is going according to plan, you've walked into an ambush," he recited flawlessly.

"Exactly. Keep your eyes and ears open," Ken lectured.

Sakura and Sasuke looked at Ken questioningly while Kakashi merely gazed at Ken with an appraising look.

Intrigued by the pessimistic, but definitely wise advice, Sakura asked Ken, "What's law number one?"

"Naruto! Pop quiz. Law one?" Ken called out.

"Friendly fire – isn't," Naruto said, and everyone's eyes widened a bit.

"Ken," Kakashi said with a serious tone as his brain replayed the memory of his Raikiri going through a certain someone's chest. "Mind explaining?"

"Sure!" Ken said happily, going into his lecture mode. "I mean it's pretty self-explanatory, but it basically means that if you get hurt by friendly fire, it's most likely not so friendly."

"I… see," Kakashi said slowly. "Any particular reason for you thinking that?" he asked.

"Nope," Ken answered but didn't elaborate. A subtle sign for Kakashi to drop the matter.

Sasuke glared into the trees as he thought about Itachi, while Sakura looked down, no doubt mulling over different possibilities in war.

"Kakashi, you should probably tell Sakura to keep her eyes up," Ken said quietly so that she wouldn't hear.

"Sakura, eyes up," Kakashi said commandingly as he nodded thanks to Ken.

A 'genin' ordering another genin who was a subordinate of a jonin that was standing right beside them would surely look bad on Kakashi.

All members of the SAT-9 kept walking quietly, unaffected by the conversation. They already had these laws drilled into their heads since Ken had basically become the unofficial leader of the squad. Officially, the captain was still Tsubaki, but after her last fuckup she had unofficially handed over the title to Ken, seeing as how he was obviously so much more experienced than anyone else – though she didn't know how that was possible, she also didn't dig deeper. Some matters were just naturally above your paygrade.

Silence blanketed them once more as the squad continued their march. A puddle caught Ken's attention and his eyes narrowed immediately. His hand subtly moved towards the storage seal on his pants where the locked and loaded P-90 was stored. It stilled as his eye caught the coded message from Kakashi's hand. ' _Stand by. Evaluating the target. Testing skills._ '

He nodded imperceptibly and continued without a change of pace. As they passed, two chains shot out of the puddle and wrapped around Kakashi. Instantly, the three froze at seeing their sensei torn up. Hinoko jumped into action from her position, only for Ken to wrap his arms around her from the back and keep her in place. "Hold up, hold up," he whispered quietly into her ear to make sure the enemies can't hear them. "Kakashi wants to test his genin."

Hinoko was surprised but calmed down as she watched Naruto and Sasuke jump into action trying to take down the demon brothers.

A chain shot at Naruto and he quickly deflected it using a kunai he had pulled out. His hand twirled the same kunai and threw it at one of the brothers. Gozu lifted his arm to block the incoming projectile and bat it away using his metal gauntlet. He swung his arm, but instead of the kunai flying away, his gauntlet gained a deep cut and the sharp object dug into his hand. "Ah!" he screamed as he looked down at how the kunai could possibly be that sharp. Confusion clouded his head as he saw nothing unique about it. He looked up, expecting to see his target smirking or taunting him, but Naruto had had it drilled into his head by Ken. **Kill first, look cool later.** Naruto was less than five feet away from the missing-nin when he finished his last hand sign.

"Doton: Doryuusou!" Naruto called out. He still had to say most of his techniques out loud since he didn't have enough control to do them wordlessly. Immediately, a spike of hardened dirt rose from the ground and shot towards Gozu.

"Shit!" Gozu cursed and leaned backwards. He shot out his other arm and another chain flew from his gauntlet, embedding itself into a tree. He pulled on the chain and the support allowed him to lean out of the way of the rising dirt spear. His feet positioned themselves into the perfect place, coming from years of practice, and he launched himself back towards Naruto with his claw extended.

 _Dammit!_ Naruto thought as he tried to dodge. The blond mostly ducked away from the blow, but it still cut his arm fairly deep. Naruto quickly realized his mistake. He hadn't planned for what would happen if his target evaded the Jutsu.

Luckily, it was at that exact moment that Kakashi came out of the trees and incapacitated the two missing-nin in less than a second. Naruto looked at his sensei with wide eyes, coming a bit closer to understanding just how skilled Kakashi was. His eyes automatically panned over to his other teammates, instinctually wanting to make sure they were okay. Sakura looked fine, if not a bit worried and tense. Sasuke, on the other hand, was breathing heavily, but still uninjured. He was glaring a hole into the bodies of the unconscious missing-nin while shooting envious looks at the spike of dirt that Naruto had produced.

Ken had watched the fight and analyzed it, judging his brother to be at the exact level he predicted, and Sasuke a slight bit higher than what he had calculated. He mentally nodded as a plan to make their training more efficient grew in his head.

Eventually, Ken tuned out Team 7 as he turned his attention to Hinoko who was still in his arms. He smirked mentally.

"Hmm," Ken hummed as he rested his head on her shoulder beside her face. "You're so warm, Hinoko," he said in a husky voice.

The warm breath on Hinoko's ear immediately made her aware of their position. "K-Ken!" she scolded with a massive blush on her face, suddenly realizing the position that they were in and had been for quite some time now. "Not here!"

"Oh? So later then? Maybe in my tent at night?" Hinoko could practically hear the smirk in his voice as her face became redder at the insinuations. Emi and Tsubaki watched Ken tease Hinoko with mirthful expressions while Team 7 paid no attention, too caught up with deciding whether to continue the mission.

"We have to continue this mission, sensei!" Naruto's loud voice came.

"We'll continue this later," Ken whispered in Hinoko's ear as he let her go and walked to where the bridge builder's interrogation was taking place.

"I also think we should continue, Kakashi," said Tsubaki as the team leader of SAT-9. "After all, we do have… quite a bit of experienced shinobi here."

"Yeah," Sakura also spoke up. "What's the worst that could happen?"

Instantly, everyone found their hands slapping their forehead, save for Sakura, Sasuke, and Hinoko. "Sakura, you fucking idiot…" Ken drawled.

"W-What!?" Sakura said indignantly.

"Sakura-chaaaan," Naruto said, almost whining her name. "You just jinxed us!"

"Huh? What do you mean?" Sakura asked confusedly. Sasuke and Hinoko also looked on in keen interest, Hinoko more so while Sasuke tried to look like he couldn't care less.

"You seethe Sakura," Kakashi began. "Many shinobi – including myself – believe that if you say optimistic things, the situation will always go FUBAR."

"FUBAR?"

"Fucked up beyond all repair," Ken answers immediately, pleasantly surprised that this phrase was a universal concept. "Uzumaki's First Law: What can go wrong, **will** go wrong," Ken said. _Sorry, Murphy_ , he mentally apologized.

"O-Oh," Sakura said as she looked downtrodden.

As everyone was deciding on how to proceed, Naruto spoke up.

"Don't worry Sakura-chan!" Naruto exclaimed suddenly as he put his hand on her shoulder. "I won't let anything happen to you!"

Sakura's eyes widened for a moment as the warmth and protectiveness in Naruto's voice surrounded her like a palpable blanket of security. Her beautiful face morphed into a small smile as she looked at him. "Thank you, Naruto."

Ken watched this play out with a small smirk on his face. A devious smile bloomed on his face as he couldn't resist it. "Get a room, you two!" he said, making both preteens instantly blush a brilliant shade of red, almost rivalling Ken's own hair.

"N-Nii-san!" Naruto called out indignantly while Sakura stayed quiet.

"By the way, Sakura," Ken said, masterfully ignoring his brother's incensed cries and getting Sakura's attention. "You might want to heal my bro's hand," he gestured to Naruto's bloody hand which he was clearly trying to hide from everyone.

Kakashi and SAT-9 walked a bit farther to discuss their future course of action, as Sakura started to fuss over Naruto.

Sakura's eyebrows shot up as she looked at it. Instantly, her "mother hen mode" – as the Uzumaki bros liked to call it – activated. "Naruto!" she exclaimed, glaring at the blond. "Why didn't you show me?"

"Ehehe," the blond chuckled nervously. "I just didn't want to worry you, Sakura-chan."

"Baka," she said without much force behind her words. She softly took his hands into her own and quickly went through some hand seals. Her hands lit up with a soft green glow as she hovered them over Naruto's hands. "It's my job to worry about you. I mean," she averted her eyes a little bit as she said the last part. "Y-You're important to me." Her face was lit up with a massive blush that was mirrored by Naruto himself also.

"R-Really?" Naruto asked with a hint of surprise in his voice.

"Of course! You're my friend!" Once again, her face heated up but this time she stared directly into his eyes. "Besides, you owe me another date."

"R-Right," Naruto said. Sakura finished healing his hand silently. Once it was done, she was surprised when Naruto held onto her. With a brilliant smile, he said, "thank you, Sakura-chan."

Sakura's heart skipped a beat as she looked into his sky-blue pools. They were like ice, yet they held a warm undercurrent. She wondered for a moment if this was what the Hokage meant every time he talked about 'The Will of Fire'. A moment later, his grin was reflected on her face as she squeezed his hand. "Anytime, Naruto," she replied, truly meaning it.

 **...**

The group of eight shinobi and one client continued their trek towards Wave country, this time, making sure to remain more vigilant than usual. Ken had interrogated and killed the Demon Brothers and had gotten more or less of an idea of the situation they were in. Only Kakashi, Tsubaki, and Ken knew, as to not scare the genin. Ken had also sent a message back to Konoha using the new seal he had invented, requesting – read: ordering – for J-squad's backup. Well, more like two seals.

Two storage seals were connected to the same tiny dimension. Just big enough to fit a backpack. When anything entered the dimension through one seal, the other seal would let off a small electric charge, no bigger than a static shock. That way, the other person would know that a message has arrived. One seal was on Ken's chest and the other was on Yurika's stomach. Obviously, Ken also made them so that they could only be accessed by either him or Yurika.

As they made camp for the day, Kakashi decided how the watch duty should be. Ken and Naruto made a few shadow clones and sent them out just in case. Night fell and after dinner, everyone entered their group tents. Hinoko and Sakura, Kakashi and Sasuke, Tsubaki and Emi, and Naruto and Ken.

Ken was staring at the roof of his tent, unable to sleep, when Naruto called out to him. "Nii-san?"

"Hmm?" Ken answered without looking over.

"You know how… uh… how we're shinobi, right?"

"Yeah?"

"Do shinobi… you know… **have** to kill people?" Naruto asked with trepidation.

Ken looked at Naruto and saw his cerulean eyes staring into his own. Ken didn't know why he never noticed it before, but his eyes were seriously blue. Almost sickeningly blue… full-on Prince Charming, field of cornflower, perfect, cloudless sky blue. Someone should name a crayon after the guy. Hah, that'd be funny. He thought about the question for a while before he answered.

"No, Naruto. We don't **have** to kill people. In fact, you could probably go your whole life without it. But… remember what I've told you before?" Ken lectured.

"Uh…" Naruto made a face as he tried to remember. "Was it, 'Blonds are troublesome'?"

"No," Ken said as he facepalmed. "That was probably Shikamaru."

"Oh, uh… 'Pee on something to mark your territory'?"

"No, that was Kiba. And no, don't do that. It's gross," Ken said as he brought his other hand to his face.

"Hmm… Oh, I remember! 'When life closes a door, breach the wall,' right?"

"No, you idiot," Ken said as he bonked him on the head. Getting serious, he repeated what he wanted to tell Naruto. "This world is either kill or be killed. In the end, you just gotta figure out your priorities."

"Oh…" Naruto spoke, downtrodden.

"Would you rather let a loved one get killed or kill the person trying to hurt them?" Ken asked him.

Naruto thought for a second before replying, "I… I would talk to the person to try to understand them and make them not do bad stuff anymore."

"What if that's their last resort?" Ken challenged.

"Huh?"

"Let's say… let's say someone is holding Sakura-chan hostage and tells you to kill someone else who is unrelated and innocent. What would you do?"

"What!? I would defeat them and save her!"

"What if the person holding them hostage was too strong to beat. Someone like Kakashi."

"I'd talk to them-,"

"Naruto!" Ken said strongly. "Talking to someone only works when that person is doing something that they **don't** like or when they at least subconsciously know that they're doing something wrong. There are people out there who want nothing more than to just see the world burn, and who will do anything as long as they believe that it's for a good cause." ' _Like I used to be_ ,' he added mentally. "What would you do then?"

"I… I…" Naruto tried to reply but couldn't find the words. Finally, after a moment of contemplation, he asked, "have you killed anyone? Like… y'know… in this world?"

"More people than I can count," Ken replied, thinking back to his ANBU missions.

"What was it like?"

"What was what like?"

"Killing someone. What did you feel?"

Ken thought for a second before answering. "Mostly the recoil."

"No! I mean… your feelings," Naruto said, wanting a real answer.

"I felt proud knowing that what I was doing was to keep Konoha safe."

"And what about before?"

"Before?"

"Your 'before' world?"

Ken flicked Naruto on the forehead as he reprimanded him. "Not 'before world', 'previous world'. And at that time, I was mostly just thinking about how everything I'm doing is to keep my country and it's citizens safe and prevent more bad things from happening."

"But…" Naruto hesitated. "Weren't you also doing bad things?"

"Of course. Lots of bad things. Things you can't even imagine. Things that if you found out, you'd definitely agree that I didn't deserve to live," Ken said as he took a deep breath. "But sometimes, Naruto, the good guys have to do bad things to make the bad guys pay. Here a quote from a fictional character in my world: 'When you kill a killer, the number of killers in the world stays the same'." He paused. "But do you know what I say to that? My answer is: 'That's why you kill a hundred killers. Then the number of killers in the world becomes ninety-nine.' And think about it this way. You're doing this, not for yourself, but so that the people in Konoha, the people you love and protect don't have to do this stuff. We're shinobi. We endure. Each and every one of us is a living sacrifice. That goes double for you," Ken said, finishing his speech.

Naruto merely nodded as he contemplated Ken's words. Before he could say anything though, a knock on the tent signified it was time for Ken's watch.

"Good night, Naruto. Don't think too much about it," he said, ruffling Naruto's hair as he always used to. "As long as I'm here, I don't mind doing the dirty work."

Naruto smiled. "Hai, nii-san," he replied as he drifted off into a deep slumber. A small whisper escaped him as the sweet arms of unconsciousness took him. "Thank you."

 **...**

Dawn arrived quickly and the group of shinobi were found walking in the same formation as the day before. They had just arrived at the shore from where they'd take the boat from when Ken suddenly stopped everyone. "I'll be back," he said. "Won't take me more than five minutes." He walked away and disappeared into the foliage.

Kakashi raised an eyebrow at Tsubaki who merely shrugged with an uncaring look on her face. She had gotten used to Ken's antics. Not because she couldn't control him, but because she knew that whatever he was doing was none of her damn business. And in this world, when you put your nose into things that don't concern you, you get silenced. No other way about it.

 **...**

Ken came to a halt as he jumped into a clearing in the woods. Only some minor rustling from the bushes was any warning that someone or something was approaching. A couple of seconds later, six soldiers burst out from the forestry beside him and came to stand at attention in front of Ken. "J-Squad, reporting, sir! Backup has arrived!" The woman in the front spoke. They were all dressed just like ANBU, except that they had no masks, helmets on their heads, and boots instead of sandals. Also, their armour was painted to camouflage with the trees and the leaves.

"I don't have a lot of time; we'll do this quick. Sitrep," Ken commanded as he saw minor drops of blood on their uniform.

"Only one encounter with bandits 20 klicks from the base. 16 out of 16 tangos eliminated," she reported promptly.

"Hmm," Ken said as he rubbed his chin. "How's your squad?"

"Permission to speak freely, sir?" Yurika asked.

"Yeah, go ahead."

"We're all dead-fucking-tired. We ran for 47 hours straight with no breaks and minimum food," she reported.

Ken nodded as he made some calculations. "Take an eight-hour break here. Sleep, eat, rest up. What's the situation in Wave Country?"

"According to Danzo's intel, a businessman named Gato has established his dominance there. Officially, he runs a shipping company."

"Unofficially?"

"Weapons trafficking, human trafficking, drug trafficking, extortion… you name it, he does it."

"Damn…" Ken sighed. _Even here… Well, not too surprising considering human nature._ "Continue."

"He has a significant number of men under him. Mostly thugs and mercenaries, but a few missing-nin too. His mansion is one klick west of what used to be the Daimyo's compound, but his base of operations is mainly the dockyard. He owns small buildings all through the place which his men use as safehouses."

"Interesting… what of the socio-economic situation?"

"It's all gone to shit."

Ken rubbed his chin for a moment as he thought of a solution. "Alright. You will make your way into the country and find yourself a safe house. When that is done, contact me. I'll rendezvous with you and we will begin our assault. One by one, we will take control of this country. Whatever you do, make sure you aren't seen."

"Yes, sir!" They all said, snapping to attention.

 **...**

Ken walked back with a perfectly indifferent look on his face.

"Done?" asked Tsubaki.

"Yeah."

She nodded. "Let's go."

"Ken?" Kakashi called out.

"Hmm?" the redhead replied nonchalantly.

"Any plans of sharing where you went just now?" the jonin asked with an eye-smile.

Ken immediately pulled out a small notebook from one of his pockets and started flipping through it comically. A few seconds later, he shut it with a snap and smiled back at Kakashi. "Nope! Doesn't seem like it."

"Ah," Kakashi said, not put off in the least. "Too bad then."

"Truly a shame," Ken nodded in agreement, the smile still plastered on his face, half wanting to annoy Kakashi and half out of amusement at the expressions on the Team 7's face.

A shape that was merely a speck in the distance became clearer and the now identifiable boat parked itself on the shore. A few prompt – and frankly unpleasant – introductions later, Team 7 and Tazuna boarded the boat while SAT-9 decided to walk on water beside them since there wasn't enough space. The squad set off once more, keeping their eyes peeled while Kakashi explained to Sakura and Sasuke what water walking was and making a promise to teach them later.

 **...**

Ken yawned as he kept up pace with everyone. He thought this would've been hard, but they were almost halfway through and he hadn't even broken a sweat. Abruptly, the engine of the boat cut off and all his senses were immediately on high alert. His eyes shot to all sides of the boat and then finally landed on the naval vessel itself as he also came to a stop with it. A kunai was in his hand, ready to fly at a moment's notice.

"Why did you shut off the engine?" Kakashi asked with just as much readiness as Ken and the rest of the SAT-9.

"We can't be making too much noise," the helmsman said cautiously. "Or else they'll hear us."

"Hmm," Kakashi grunted as he nodded for him to continue the journey, but Ken still stayed skeptical.

They were in the middle of the sea right now. There was no way in hell that a motorboat sound would reach like twenty kilometres away. Ken knew that most experienced shinobi had amazing hearing, but this was actual bullshit. And the helmsman said he had been doing to for years, so he should definitely know better than that. The journey continued in silence, much slower than before.

The only warning that anyone got was Ken's shout, and even that wasn't enough. "CONTACT LEFT!" he screamed as a massive blade came flying out of the water and sliced part of the helmsman's head off before being stopped just an inch short of Tazuna's neck by Kakashi's kunai.

SAT-9 jumped into action trying to lunge at the boat but were unable to even move their feet. Ken looked down and confusion marred his face. Was that… ice!? It was warm as hell here. How the fuck was there ice here!?

Only extremely trained and honed senses allowed him to dodge the incredibly sharp projectiles that came flying at his face. He bent his back and leaned away as adrenaline pumped through his body. Instantly, the Uzu was in his hand and two loud bangs rang out over the endless sea. The ice on his feet shattered from the force of bullets shot at point-blank range and he dashed back to dodge another wave of ice needles. Once more, the ice started to slowly build up on his feet. Ken started running and the ice shattered. _Guess I can't stop_ , Ken thought, realizing that he had to keep moving or he'd be restricted by the phantom ice again. "Once you break the ice, keep moving or it'll build up again!" he shouted out the warning to his comrades.

Ken kept moving for a few seconds until Emi's voice broke through the seemingly silent battlefield. "KAI!" he heard and immediately the sounds of battle were much clearer, not to mention the masked figure standing off to the side was also visible now. Ken raised his arm to aim at the enemy shinobi, but they must've learned from watching what it did to the ice because the ice user promptly disappeared under the water.

Ken wasn't stupid enough to stop moving though. Tsubaki was also finally free and kept on moving while Emi was helping Hinoko with the last of the ice build-up. He looked over to where their client was and saw Kakashi in an intense battle with a shinobi that was using a massive cleaver and had the lower half of his face covered, just like the copy ninja, except he was using bandages. Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke were only standing around Tazuna who looked to be scared shitless. Not much they could do here though. At least, he couldn't see the dead body of the helmsman. Naruto must've thrown it overboard, just like how Ken had taught him. _My team can handle the other guy. I need to help out Kakashi_ , Ken thought as he heard Emi finally get Hinoko free.

The Uzu 19 flashed back into its holster and with barely a poof of smoke from the storage seal, the P-90 was in Ken's hands. The stock slid into his shoulder with the confidence of weeks of practice with hundreds of clones. He looked down the sights and started moving towards Kakashi's battle. To a shinobi, the speed he was moving at would be comparable to a snail's pace. But one phrase rang through Ken's mind. The same one that had been one of the first ones to be drilled into him.

 **Slow is smooth. Smooth is fast.**

His sights stayed trained on the ongoing fight, looking for even the smallest opportunity of a clean shot. He sensed the other enemy shinobi rushing towards him to attack.

 _Ken's sights stayed on the battle._

He sensed Tsubaki and Emi moving to intercept.

 _Ken's sights stayed on the battle._

Sparks flew near him as Hinoko and the enemy shinobi locked kunai and senbon needles.

 _Ken's sights stayed on the battle._

Then finally, for a split second, the golden moment shone, and Ken seized the opportunity. Kakashi and the sword wielder separated from each other because of a particularly nasty blow, courtesy of Konoha's own Copy Ninja. A few squeezes of the trigger and a short burst of bangs rang out from the masterfully made automatic weapon. Out of seven shots that were fired, one was dodged, three were accidentally deflected by the blade and the rest hit true in the enemy shinobi's arm and torso.

A bloodcurdling scream through the battlefield. It was so intense that even the side fight that was going on with the younger masked shinobi and Ken's own team had paused to look at the scene of horror in front of them.

"ZABUZA-SAMA!" shrieked a feminine voice and the shinobi SAT-9 was fighting sped off towards her master with nary a regard for her own safety. Ken smiled as more pieces just fell into place.

He took advantage of this amazing opportunity that arose and fired off more shots, all of which hit the now identified Zabuza in the torso and a few others hit the other shinobi in the back.

Zabuza fell limply into the water just as he stretched out an arm towards his companion. "Haku," came the soft but clear whisper from him as his eyes slowly closed.

Haku also fell similarly but she was promptly caught by Ken. He quickly pulled out a seal from his pack and slapped it onto the exposed back of her neck. "NARUTO! Stasis seal!" Ken shouted out in the most commanding voice anyone had ever heard and Naruto jumped into action, doing the same to Zabuza.

Everyone on the water stilled for a while before Kakashi also fell lifelessly into the water. Tsubaki was by his side in a second, carrying him and putting him onto the boat.

"Nii-san?" called out Naruto, awaiting more orders.

"Yeah, Naruto. Just hold on a sec, alright?" Ken said, still holding onto the enemy shinobi with one hand and massaging his temples with his other hand. After a few seconds, he finally spoke. "I have a suggestion, Tsubaki-sensei," Ken said as he looked at his official team leader. "Let's get everyone to safety first and treat their wounds, at least until they're not in critical condition anymore. Then, we'll interrogate our two guests here and plan our course of action from there." Everyone other than Sakura and Sasuke knew it wasn't a suggestion.

Tsubaki nodded, placing her full trust into Ken. "We'll do that."

Tazuna stayed silently on the boat, as now it was Sasuke, Sakura, the two injured shinobi, and himself. Naruto was walking on water with SAT-9 and the unconscious Kakashi was on Ken's back temporarily. As they continued their journey, Tsubaki struck up a conversation with Ken. "Ken?" she said.

"Yeah?" he replied seemingly still in thought.

"That seal; what is it?" That seemed to pull him out of his head.

"It's called a stasis seal," he explained. "It's something that Naruto and I invented together. It took almost four months of continuous work. Basically, what it does is that it freezes the state that a person's body is in for a certain period of time. So, for the person it's attached to, it's almost like time-travel into the future."

Tsubaki was gobsmacked. "Wha… Ken, this is a revolutionary sealing technique-," before she could speak further, Ken raised his hand and cut her off.

"I know," he said with a sigh. "But the chakra cost is honestly not worth it. One seal has as much chakra as about five hundred of my shadow clones. And even that can only put a wild boar into stasis for about five days. For a human, it would be less than three days."

"Regardless, Ken. This is something Konoha should know about," Tsubaki argued.

"And they will. **When** I have perfected it," Ken finished, signifying the end of the conversation. The SAT-9 team leader only nodded and went back to scanning the surroundings.

 **...**

SAT-9 had taken up position a few feet away from the old bridge builder as he knocked on the door. A few seconds later, rapid footsteps were heard inside the quaint house and the door opened just a creak. A dark eye peeked from inside and widened as it fell on Tazuna.

"Father!" the woman cried and opened up the door fully to let him in. The shinobi slightly relaxed, seeing no traps around.

"Tsunami, these are the shinobi that escorted me," Tazuna said, gesturing to everyone around.

Tsunami's eyebrow shot up, seeing the many people around her. Naruto was carrying Kakashi, Sakura was carrying Haku, and Sasuke was carrying Zabuza. All the others were in strategic positions to jump into action at the first sign of trouble.

"Oh!" the civilian woman said. "Please, come in! Make yourself at home. I'll get some water and food for all of you."

Tsubaki nodded and stepped up. "I'm Tsubaki. Acting leader of the squad for now. We do not have much time, so I'll get straight to the point. We have two heavily injured enemy shinobi with us, and one extremely exhausted comrade. We'll need at least three rooms for all of us. Will you be able to accommodate?"

Tsunami blinked at the overload of the information. "Y-yes, of course!" she stammered out, knowing that she could at least provide three rooms for them. "But we have a shortage of food at the moment, so-," she was abruptly cut off by Ken.

"Don't worry about that. I believe we have enough rations to last a month," he said with a smile, waving away her concerns. "Alright, now, can you please lead us to the rooms? We need to administer immediate medical care to everyone right now."

"H-hai," Tsunami said, speeding off into the house with Team 7 and Tazuna on her heels, leaving SAT-9 alone.

A few seconds passed before Emi spoke up. "Plan of action?"

"We're nearly black on medical supplies," Tsubaki said, and Ken nodded in agreement.

"We'll R&R here for a couple of days. I'll send Team 7 out on patrols for recon in the town. Then, when we have enough info, we'll begin our assault," Ken ordered, getting compliant nods from everyone. "Alright, start healing our captives as soon as possible. I want intel before they die."

 **...**

Hinoko's eyes shot open as she heard the clicks. Her eyes scanned the surroundings and she observed how Tsubaki was already sitting up, leaning against the wall, and Emi was also just waking up. Her sky-blue orbs immediately sought out Ken and found him loading the new weapon that he had brought with him on this mission.

"Do we have a situation?" she asked, getting up and moving to get ready before a familiar, warm hand fell on her shoulder, halting her.

"No, we don't," Ken said. " **I** have a situation. I'll be back before dawn."

"Oh, right…" Hinoko said sadly. It was that type of situation again. He was conducting his own secret mission. At least, that's what the Hokage had told SAT-9 when she had brought the issue of Ken going off on his own.

Ken looked at her downtrodden expression and sighed. He could've sworn she was learning the Puppy Eyes Jutsu from Naruto. "I… I promise to tell you what it's about when I'm back, Hinoko," Ken said exasperatedly.

"Promise?" she asked.

"Yeah, I promise," Ken replied with a smile and left.

She might be a prodigy, a professional killer, and trained to end your life before you could even blink… but regardless, she was still a teenager. She still had feelings.

 **...**

"Sitrep," came the command as J-Squad almost jumped at Ken's silent arrival.

"Fifteen enemy bases located; four are heavily guarded and quite large. The rest are safe houses. Tangos are mostly mercenaries and bandits; very few missing-nin. More intel points to enemy-occupied warehouses on and around the shore and dockyard," Yurika reported smoothly as always.

"Shit," Ken cursed. "We really have our work cut out for us, huh?"

"Commander?" Okyou asked.

"Hmm?" Ken looked at her.

"Are you planning on taking them all out tonight?"

"Well, that's what I **wanted** to do but I severely underestimated the size of the opposition," Ken said as he rubbed his chin. They stayed silent for an entire minute, letting their commander make a decision. Finally, Ken spoke. "This is what we'll do…" Ken started explaining his plan.

 **...**

It was four in the morning when J-Squad plus Ken commenced the assault on Gato's mansion. Suppressors (which were really just tubes of metal with multiple silencing seals on them) on all their weapons made them not only deadly silent in the darkness but also hid the muzzle flashes also making them practically invisible. Ken sent a short pulse of chakra over his own version of the ANBU tattoo and as a single organism, the seven killing machines breached.

' **POOF!** ' the door blew off its hinges relatively quietly with the help of temporary silencing seals. The rifles fired as each and every bullet found its way to the targets' heads before they could even make a peep.

"Clear," a whisper came, signifying all tangos in the room were dead. Ken smiled slightly as he felt a wave of nostalgia wash over him. This was almost like he was back in the JTF-2. Almost.

The squad moved into the hallway and cleared out room after room, while one of them stayed in the main room, keeping an eye on the door and the staircase. The floor was cleared out and half the squad moved outside, scaling the wall to get to the second floor while the rest used the stairs. The second floor met the same fate. Weapons fired and the bodies dropped.

As J-Squad was assaulting the mansion, another squad of Ken's shadow clones were assaulting another base using extra weapons that were in the storage scrolls.

Once the main bases were mostly clear, J-Squad made their way to what used to be the Daimyo's mansion, while Ken's shadow clone squad moved to another safe house to commence a new assault. The unit moved fluidly and came to a halt just two hundred meters away from the assault target: Gato's main base of operations and his residence.

"Spread out and report back in three minutes," Yurika commanded.

Before they left, Ken spoke up. "Listen up." All eyes and ears were on him. "Moscow rules. Safety off. Fingers on the trigger." They nodded. "Go."

The operatives instantly flickered away, leaving the captain and commander alone to their thoughts.

"Yurika," Ken called out after a while.

"Yes, commander?" she replied.

"What is your evaluation of J-Squad?" he asked.

"You have trained us very well sir—" she started but was stopped by Ken.

"No," he interrupted. "I mean compared to your experience with ANBU. Which branch is more efficient? ANBU or our SOF?"

"Oh," she said, a little taken aback that Ken would ask her of something like this. "I'd say our special operations force is definitely at least fifty times more efficient than the ANBU. ANBU worked similar to our force but still, all the changes that you've made, big or small, has made huge improvements to how much more effective the team can be. For example, the communications using our SOF tattoos, breach tactics… not to mention, our gear. All missions feel much more fluid now," she finished, eyes never leaving the target for one nanosecond.

Ken nodded his thanks with a small smile on his face. "Good."

The captain and commander waited in silence until the reports finally came in. Their tattoos pulsed in morse code and Ken decoded in this head.

 _OSCAR 5H N SIDE:_ Okyou reporting: five hostiles - north side.  
 _TANGO 5H S SIDE:_ Taji reporting: five hostiles - south side.  
 _ALPHA 4H E SIDE:_ Ashi reporting: four hostiles - east side.  
 _HOTEL 4H W SIDE:_ Hayase reporting: four hostiles - west side.  
 _INDIA 6H ROOF:_ Inaho reporting: six hostiles - top side.

Yurika sent out her own pulse in reply. _Copy, stand by._

"Sir?" she said.

"On your mark, Okyou, Taji, Ashi, and Hayase will execute. Inaho, and you will take the roof. I'll make shadow clones to catch the bodies that fall from there," Ken replied, short and concise.

Yurika nodded and conveyed the info to the squad. _Roger_ , the replies came.

Ken made six shadow clones and sent three to the opposite sides of the building so that they'd be ready to catch the falling bodies. Once he was ready, he gave the signal to Yurika. "Fill the gaps."

"Stay liquid," Yurika replied and sent out the signal.

At once, J-squad squeezed their triggers. The assault rifles coughed as one after another bandit and mercenary fell, not more than one bullet in their heads. Ken saw the guards on the roof get hit and signalled his clones. The shadow clones moved swiftly and came to a stop directly under the roof, catching the bodies one after another as they fell.

 _Clear_ , came five different chakra pulses and Yurika sent out another one for the team to regroup at her position.

Once the squad was back together, she turned to the commander for instructions.

Ken pondered over how to go through with the breach. "Ashi and I will breach from the front. Yurika and Hayase will breach from the back. The rest of you will guard the perimeter. No one in or out. Understood?"

"Yes, sir," came the reply immediately.

The squad moved to their positions and once again, at Ken's command they breached. The front door was thankfully open so they didn't have to blow it off this time. Ken entered and went right as Ashi entered right behind him and went left. The two operatives maneuvered around all the objects, leaving not a single corner unchecked.

"Left side, clear," whispered Ashi.

"Right side, clear," replied Ken as he waited at the doorway to another room. "Give me two." Ashi came up behind him and tapped him twice on his back.

Once again, they repeated the process, finding four men sleeping in makeshift beds this time. Promptly, they were put to sleep forever, courtesy of Ken Uzumaki.

"Left side, clear," whispered Ashi again.

"Right side, clear," replied Ken. He peeked into the next room and saw that Yurika had taken care of it and was waiting there. "First floor clear?" he asked as Ashi entered the room with him.

"Yeah," she answered and pointed at Hayase with her thumb who was at the stairs with his gun pointed up in case anyone was coming.

"Right. Let's go," he said. Ken lined up behind Hayase with Ashi behind him and Yurika to guard their backs. He felt a double tap on his back and in turn, tapped Hayase twice on his back.

As one, they moved up to the second floor. Once up, Hayase went right, killing enemies as he walked, and Ken immediately went to the left. He squeezed the trigger three times, and three bodies fell on the floor with a soft 'thud'. Hayase, Ashi, and Yurika breached and entered the first room on the right while Ken waited outside, watching their backs. Room after room was cleared swiftly until they finally all gathered outside the final one which had a golden doorknob and the door itself looked like it cost millions.

"Let's get this son of a bitch," Ashi whispered and Hayase nodded.

Once again they breached the door and moved in. There was one bed in which Gato was sleeping in and two guards on the opposite sides of the room. Hayase went first and eliminated one who was sleeping on his chair. The other one was awake but was killed by Ken before he could make a sound. They all entered the room and Ashi and Yurika immediately went to check the closets while Hayase checked under the bed and Ken kept an eye on Gato.

"Clear," came three replies.

Ken nodded. "Now who wants to wake this bastard up?" he asked.

"Please," said Ashi. "Let me do the honours?"

"Go ahead," smiled Ken.

Ashi smiled deviously as she whipped off the blanket. Gato stirred and was about to wake up when Ashi's foot descended on his precious jewels.

"AAAAHHHHHH!" his scream rang through the house.

"Rise and shine, asshole!" Hayase said as he used a simple trick and dislocated Gato's elbow.

This time the scream was even louder. "Ha… Who are you people!?" he asked.

Ken smiled as he spoke. "Well, that depends, Gato," he said. "I can either be your business partner, or I can be your executioner. It's all up to you."

Gato looked stupefied. "What… What do you mean?" he asked.

"Oh, I think you know what I mean. Comply with my demands and I'll let you live. Don't, and I'll put a knife through your brain."

"What do you want from me?" Gato asked, now openly crying.

"First of all, I want you to stop crying. It's getting annoying," Ken said with a scowl.

Gato immediately shut his mouth.

Ken smiled. "Good. You can follow instructions. Now, I want all the details of all your operations in Wave Country and abroad."

Gato stared at Ken with his mouth open, not believing that this was really happening to him.

"Now," Ken said in a more serious tone.

"B-But—" Gato tried to say.

"Yes?" Ken asked as he took out a kunai and twirled it.

"Ahh! No! Nothing! I'll give you everything!" Gato said as he clutched his blanket. "I-It's in the next room in a safe!"

Ken nodded and Gato exited the bed and walked to the other room. He bit back another scream as he saw the hallway littered with bodies of his thugs. When he entered the next room, Gato visibly shed a few tears of fear. The four men in that room were all at least B-class missing-nin that he had hired to guard the safe and they were all taken out without a sound.

"T-There's the safe with everything in it," he said, pointing to a corner.

Ken stood motionless and stared at Gato. The fat businessman awkwardly looked around, confused why no one was doing anything. Finally, Yurika walked up to him and slapped Gato across the face.

"Open it, you fucking dumbass," she said.

"Ah! I- I'm sorry!" Gato exclaimed, jumping into action. He turned the knobs until the safe clicked open and opened the door, showing hundreds of stacks of money, gold bars, and papers.

"Thanks, bud!" Ken exclaimed happily and shot Gato in the back of the neck, severing his spinal cord and instantly killing him. "Store the money and the gold in scrolls. Yurika and I will start going through the papers," he commanded.

The three members of J-Squad nodded numbly, surprised at the ruthless efficiency of their commander.

 **...**

It was afternoon when Ken finally returned from his mission. In his left hand was a scroll that had all the money and gold from Gato's mansion, and in his right hand was a sack of something that was suspiciously red. As he neared the house, Hinoko appeared in front of him in a flicker.

"Ken!" she exclaimed as she started checking him over for injuries. "Are you okay? Are you hurt? Is that your blood?" she asked in rapid-fire.

The redhead smiled softly, loving the way his teammate fussed over and cared about him. "I'm alright, Hinoko," he said and continued walking towards the house. "Just need some sleep. That's all."

Hinoko paused for a second and nodded as she silently fell into step beside him. "So…" she spoke up. "Where were you?"

"Just around the town… cleaning up," he replied vaguely.

"Hmm," Hinoko hummed as she pouted. "Fine."

Ken sighed. "You'll find out later, Hinoko," he said exasperatedly.

The ANBU duo slowly walked back to the front door when it suddenly burst open and a small kid with dark hair ran out. Instantly, the scroll was dropped and even before it hit the ground, the Uzu-19 was in Ken's hand, aimed dead center at the boy's head.

Hinoko also reacted, only slightly slower than Ken and pulled his arm down. "STOP! He's a friendly!" she yelled out before he could pull the trigger.

The boy in question seemed to be completely unaware of the two ninjas as he turned back around and shouted. "He's too strong! You can't win! NO ONE CAN WIN AGAINST GATO!"

Ken's eye twitched. He didn't know what exactly was going on, but… what did this little brat say?

What the fuck!? Who did this little shit think he was? The fuck did he mean by 'no one can win against Gato'? Stupid-ass, hat-wearing-ass, little-human-ass, leg-having-ass little bitch.

"Hey, kid!" Ken almost shouted out with barely restrained hostility and the little boy whirled around, finally noticing the two people behind him. The Uzumaki holstered his sidearm and reached inside the potato sack with his free arm. "Gato's dead," Ken said emotionlessly as he pulled out and dropped something on the ground, kicking it towards the little boy.

The round object rolled and finally came to a stop in front of the door. "Ha…?" the boy asked curiously before finally realizing what the object was. "AAAHH!" Inari screamed and ran off to the side as he instantly started throwing up in the bushes. Hinoko who was standing beside Ken also held her hand over her mouth as she stared at the object on the ground that was slowly spreading a deep red stain on the ground. This type of gore wasn't new to her as she had seen more than enough on the ANBU missions, but still, the fact that Ken could do something like this… Who was he?

The people inside the house also came out to investigate the ruckus outside and froze. On the ground was Gato's fat severed head. Its eyes were wide open as if to allow the soul to escape and its mouth was clenched tight, probably due to post-mortem reflex.

Before anyone else could start puking their guts out, Hinoko immediately covered the offending piece of human meat with the sack that Ken had still been holding onto.

"N-Nii-san?" a shaky voice called out.

Ken looked up with eyes that spoke volumes of what he'd just been through. Hours of tens of clones mindlessly assaulting base after base, killing one after the other. Checking the bodies they killed for intel. Burning the corpses using a lightning technique... Never since being reincarnated had he felt this way. "Hey bro," he said as his lips curled slightly upwards… yet his soft serene smile didn't quite reach his eyes.

"Are you okay?" Naruto asked with even more urgency as he saw just how strained his brother's expression was.

"Couldn't be better," Ken lied through his teeth. "But putting that aside," he continued, turning to Hinoko. "How are our prisoners?"

Hinoko put her concern for him in the back of her mind and answered like the soldier that she was. "The younger one has woken up and is being restrained. Her wounds weren't too critical as there were only three or four bullets in her back. The older one on the other hand…" Hinoko trailed off, not knowing how to describe the situation as she still wasn't too experienced as a med-nin.

"Still in a life-threatening situation with multiple bullet wounds on the torso and arm – some extremely close to arteries. Expected time of recovery would be about three months and we don't know if he'll even walk at all," Emi spoke as she appeared in the doorway.

Ken nodded. "And Kakashi?" he asked.

"Yo!" came a jolly voice from above. Ken looked up and found Kakashi crouching on the roof with the orange book in his hand and a placating eye-smile.

"Awesome," Ken said without any cheerfulness in his voice. "We're back at full capacity. That's good."

"Yeah, right! Not even close!" Hinoko said forcefully from beside Ken.

Ken looked at her, only to find her glaring back at him. "Huh?" he asked.

"Don't 'huh?' me! 'Huh' yourself!" Hinoko exclaimed. "Just take a look at yourself! You look like you ran around the world in one night! You're nowhere **near** full capacity. You need to rest!" she finished.

"Hinoko…" Ken said, rubbing his head. "I'm fine, trust me. I can still go for about four days."

"Bullshit," came the immediate reply. Surprisingly, it was Sakura who said that. "Your eyes are literally red. That's a clear sign of either uveitis, or acute glaucoma!" She exclaimed.

"Smart girl," Emi said, nodding with a 'not bad' expression on her face.

"See!?" Hinoko said. "Acute guacamole! Do you get that Ken!?"

"I am surrounded by **idiots** …" Ken said with a hand to his temple.

 **...**

"Mmmph! HNGH! FFNGGHFF!" came the muffled noises from the bounded struggling kunoichi in front of Ken. She was laid haphazardly on a chair with Ken sitting on his own right in front of her.

He smiled slightly at her pathetic attempts to get free. "Thank heavens for chakra draining seals, eh?" he said in a mockingly humorous tone before reaching over and taking off the rag on Haku's mouth.

"Let me go!" the brunette immediately said in an icy tone, her eyes burning into Ken's.

All the shinobi behind Ken tensed and gripped their weapons a little bit tighter with the exception of Kakashi. He merely continued watching silently. Sakura and Hinoko started breathing a little heavier from the sheer amount of killing intent the enemy was releasing. There was a moment of silence before anyone spoke.

"What a dumbass…" Ken said in an almost comically bewildered voice. "You could've said literally anything, and you choose 'let me go'!? Like… seriously, you could've said an amazing line like, 'I'll take my secrets to the grave,' or maybe even something like, 'I'll fuck you up even after death,' but noooo. You had to choose to say the **one thing** that we both know isn't going to happen," he finished and sighed. "What a disappointment."

"Huh?" was all the Haku could say in reply.

"Well, whatever," Ken said, shaking his head. "Let's just get to the interrogation, shall we?"

That seemed to bring the ice user out of her stupor. "I'll never talk," she said with a scowl.

"See, that's what you should've said when I took off the rag," Ken answered. "Also," he added, "stop scowling. Wrinkles don't look good on a pretty face like yours."

"Wha-," Haku's cheeks reddened before she spoke up again. "I'm a boy!"

Ken raised an eyebrow and looked back towards Emi. "Nope," the medic said. "Didn't see no dick down there."

Ken looked back. "Nice try. Now, getting back on track. Let's start with the questions. What's your name?" he asked.

"Fuck you."

"What is your name?"

"Fuck you!"

"I'll ask once more. What is your name?"

"Nunya!"

"Hah…" Ken sighed. "I'm going to ask you for your last name, and if it ends with 'business', OH HELP ME LORD because ON MY LIFE, I will smack the ever living shit out of you. You get that?"

Behind Ken, Hinoko and Naruto were rolling on the floor laughing their guts out while Sakura, and the rest of SAT-9 were also trying – and subsequently failing – to hide their giggling.

Ken took a deep breath before finally asking, "what is your last name?"

"Motherfucking business!" Haku snarled out with a wide grin.

Ken pinched the bridge of his nose to keep some semblance of his sanity. "Alright," he said. "Enough games. Kakashi-san, can you please bring the other prisoner down here?"

"Hmm?" Kakashi hummed, not sure why Ken wanted Zabuza down with them.

"Here," Ken said, holding a couple of slips of paper. "These are chakra draining seals. That way it'll be safer for you to get him."

Kakashi's eye moved from the slips of paper to Ken. "Sure," he said after a moment and accepted the papers.

As the copy ninja vanished into the stairwell, Ken turned back to Haku. "So… according to what I saw during our little skirmish on the sea, I'd say that guy that's with you is pretty important to you, right?"

Haku didn't let out a single word but she glared with all her might at him.

"Right. Not sure what I was even expecting," said Ken and patiently waited. Eventually, Kakashi came down the stairs with a man on his back. "Awesome!" Ken exclaimed in an overly chipper way. "Can you please put him here?" he asked, pulling up a chair.

Kakashi didn't say anything and set Zabuza down slowly on the chair. Ken moved swiftly and bound the Kiri nin's arms and legs with some extra rope. It wasn't needed, but you could never be too careful.

Ken reached into his pouch and pulled out a kunai. "Still don't wanna talk?" he asked, looking dead into Haku's eyes with not a hint of humour in his voice. Haku grit her teeth as her face morphed into a conflicted look. Ken smiled a bit and put his kunai away. "Alright, how about this: tell me exactly what you want."

Haku kept glaring but her cheeks twitched slightly; a sign that she might just say something. A full minute of tense silence passed before she finally spoke. "Let my master and me go free."

"Hmm," Ken said, nodding as he rubbed his chin. "That's probably not gonna happen…" Behind him, Kakashi was twirling and fidgeting with shuriken as he leaned against the wall. "Emi, how well would you say you patched Zabuza up?"

"He's not critical, but he still needs professional help," Emi answered promptly.

"I see," Ken said as he smiled. "Thank you very much. Now," he turned back to the tied-up prisoner. "This is the very last time I'll ask you to cooperate with us. Will you?" he asked.

Haku glared. Ken waited for a few seconds before exhaling solemnly. "Don't say I didn't give you any chances," he said as he moved Zabuza's chair so that he was directly facing the girl. He grabbed a water bag that was laying nearby and emptied it onto the swordsman's head. Immediately, the shark-toothed ninja sputtered and gasped and looked around.

"Haku?" Zabuza said as his eyes fell upon his 'tool'.

"Ah, so that's your name. 'Haku'," Ken said as he nodded.

Zabuza's head instantly whipped around with a look that could kill. "Who the fuck are you?" he growled out.

"Your judge, jury, and executioner," Ken answered without missing a beat. He pulled out a kunai from his pouch and rammed it into Zabuza's forearm.

An ear-piercing scream of agony rang through the modest home, followed by a heartbreaking "ZABUZA-SAMA!" from Haku.

Ken unwrapped the bandages on his right arm while simultaneously applying an incredibly subtle genjutsu over it – that everyone other than Kakashi missed – making it look like Ken's arm was completely normal. He then took the bandages and wrapped them over Zabuza's mouth multiples times, tightly enough so that he couldn't speak anymore.

"Now, second question: what is your goal in the Land of Waves?" Ken asked.

"MMM! MMM!" Zabuza tried to shout while frantically shaking his head, trying to tell Haku not to say anything.

Haku clenched her teeth as tears spilled from her eyes.

Ken's patience was wearing thin. He wanted to sleep, dammit! "Haku," he said, getting the ice-user's attention. He pointed the kunai at Zabuza's hand and spoke, "one question, one finger."

Haku's eyes widened at that." N-No! Please don't!" she begged.

Ken didn't pay her any mind and moved to pry one of Zabuza's finger out from his clenched fist.

"W-WAIT! I'll tell you!" she screamed but Ken continued on. "We were working for Gato!" she yelled again, and Ken paused.

"I'm gonna need more details than that," he said and let the tip of the kunai cut into the finger, just enough to let a few drops of blood out.

"We- we were working for him to get some money so that we could support the Kiri resistance!" Haku said.

"Hmm… interesting. And what was your plan after this?" Ken asked while Zabuza was shaking his head frantically.

"We… we would look for more work elsewhere," Haku answered.

"Lie," Kakashi immediately said from the back. In a fluid motion, one finger cleanly cut off from Zabuza's hand and landed on the floor in front of the ice-user.

"MMMMMM!" Zubuza's muffled scream rang out while all Haku could do was gasp and mumble incoherently.

"I'll ask again: what was your plan after this?" Ken repeated.

"We were going to head back to Kiri to team up with the resistance and support them in their fight," Haku said, much more cooperative now that she had witnessed Ken's wasn't just making idle threats.

"Who is the leader of the resistance?"

"Mei Terumi."

"Describe her."

"I haven't seen her personally. According to Zabuza-sama, she is tall, has long burnt orange hair, and can use two kekkei genkai."

"Which ones?"

"Lava release and boil release."

"What is the point of Kiri's civil war? What is your goal?"

Haku whipped her head at Ken and glared at him as if he'd just announced that he killed her parents. "What is the point? The fucking point is that we would be stopping a mass murderer!" she screamed.

 _Ah, yeah…_ Ken thought. _I did hear about the bloodline purges. It seems it wasn't all just rumors._

Slowly, with more coercing, Haku finally relegated her tale of woe. About how her mother was killed. How she was abandoned and homeless. And finally, how Zabuza found her and trained her. The whole time, Zabuza remained silent and kept glaring at the Konoha shinobi.

"Damn… you've certainly had a tough life," Ken said solemnly.

"Don't pity me," Haku said with a venomous voice.

"I'm not," Ken answered. "I'm just showing my respect. Yes, you're still an enemy, but that doesn't make your story of survival any less amazing. I truly do respect your strength. That being said, Gato is dead now."

"Huh?" was all Haku could say to that.

"Gato is dead," Ken repeated. "We eliminated him last night. Most of the safehouses in the country are cleared and the only place remaining is the dockyard."

"But… what about our payment?" Haku asked with wide eyes.

"Mmph!" Zabuza tried to say.

Ken made a space in the bandages around the Kiri nin's face. "What?"

"I was saying, I don't give a shit about the payment. If Gato is dead, our job is done here. Let us go."

Ken replaced the bandages. "It's not that simple. What's to say you won't come back for our heads? Not to mention, you're a missing-nin. Your bounty is worth quite a bit," he said and stayed silent for a minute. "Anyway," he finally continued. "This is it for now. Sleep." Ken grabbed Zabuza by the back of the neck and jolted him with a heavy dose of lightning chakra. The sword wielder's head immediately fell limp. "You on the other hand," he pointed to Haku and walk towards her. "Aren't really worth too much. You do, however, have a rare kekkei genkai which makes you valuable to us. You'll probably be coming back to Konoha with us," he finished and before she could say anything, he did the same with her and put her to sleep.

The others watched silently as Ken picked up Zabuza's finger. "Re-attach that, please?" he said, handing it to Emi who nodded silently and go to work.

"So," Tsubaki finally spoke up. "What's the plan now?"

"Clean up the dockyard. Then head back to Konoha," Kakashi answered as he pushed off the wall and stood up straight. "Also, Ken, can I talk to you please?" he added with a smile.

"Sure," Ken said and looked at the jonin with a smile.

"Alone?" Kakashi asked, pointing up the stairs with his thumb.

"Hah…" he sighed, smile dropping off his face. "Sure…" Ken answered, dragging himself to the floor above. He really just wanted to sleep. Was that too much to ask for?

 **...**

The Uzumaki sat with his arms resting on his knees and his head leaning against the wall. "So, what's the matter, bossman?" he asked, his eyes lazily focusing on Kakashi.

Kakashi leaned against the wall again as he started. "Who are you?"

The answer came without a moment of delay. "My name is Ken Uzumaki. Genin, Konoha Armed Forces. Serial number: 4242022634," Ken replied smoothly.

"I'm not interrogating you, Ken."

"I know. I just answered your question."

The two shinobi stared at each other. Both their eyelids were drooping but it didn't betray the sharpness of the cold, calculating stares. Finally, Ken's need to sleep won over.

"Why don't you just say what you want, Kakashi?" Ken said as he closed his eyes. "That way we can get this drama over with, eh?"

Kakashi exhaled. "Who is the leader of your squad?"

"Tsubaki, codename Tsuru is the official leader of the Special Assault Team - 9 of the Konoha ANBU."

"And who is the unofficial leader?"

Ken stayed silent.

"Ken—" Kakashi started but was immediately interrupted.

"Ken Uzumaki, codename Neo," came Tsubaki's voice as she opened the door and stepped in, "is the unofficial leader of SAT-9," she said as she closed the door behind her. "I needed to take a break because of my fuckup with Mizuki. Ken stepped up and he is easily qualified for this role. Is that enough, Kakashi?" she asked with a glare that could kill. No one other than Hokage or herself was allowed to question the competency of her team or its members. How dare Kakashi? No matter how great of a ninja he was, he had to know his limits.

Neither Ken nor Kakashi looked surprised by Tsubaki's entrance.

"Hmm," the Copy Ninja nodded. "I'll ask more questions later," he said as he flickered out of the room.

Tsubaki stayed silent for a while before she sighed and she sat down beside Ken. "Sorry for intruding," she said.

"Don't worry about it," Ken replied with his eyes still closed. "I'm happy you did. At least this way I can get some uninterrupted sleep," he said and smiled. Before Tsubaki could ask what he meant Ken leaned over and rested his head on her shoulder, immediately dozing off.

 **...**

It was an entire day later in the evening when Ken finally woke up. The massive amount of stress and memories from the shadow clones had really taken a toll on him. He quickly brushed his teeth and showered before getting dressed in something casual. Ken walked downstairs while rubbing his eyes blearily. "Mmm," he hummed as the delicious smell of food hit him. "I smell something amazing."

"Oh!" Tsunami said she spotted Ken. "Uzumaki-san! I was just preparing some food to bring to your room. How are you feeling?" she asked with a beautiful smile.

Ken grinned widely, remembering how his own mother used to fuss over him in his past life when he was younger. "I feel okay, Tsunami-san. Leaving that aside, whatever you're making smells amazing!"

Tsunami giggled at the praise. "Well, you just wait right here and I'll bring some food out for you," she said and went to the kitchen.

As Tsunami came out with a pot in her hands, Ken got seated at the table and asked, "So, where's the rest of the people?"

"I think Kakashi-san has taken his squad into the forest for some training and Tsubaki-san, Emi-san, and Hinoko-san have gone to the bridge to guard my father, leaving you here to… guard me," she answered as she took a seat across from Ken.

"Ah, I see. By the way, this soup is super delicious! I wish I could have food like this every day!" Ken said, taking another sip of the spicy chicken noodle soup that Tsunami had made. Tsunami smiled once more at the compliment.

Ken and Tsunami made some small talk as he continued eating. Finally, as Ken finished, Sakura burst through the door. "KEN!" she shouted and immediately dropped to one knee.

Ken was by her side in an instant. "Sakura! What happened?" he asked, seeing the numerous cuts and bruises over her body.

"Bandits… attacked," she spoke as she tried to catch her breath. "Sensei was training us in the forest when fifty of them came at us suddenly. We defeated them, but there are probably more on the bridge," she finished.

"Shit!" Ken cursed and carried Sakura bridal style up to her room. "Stay here. I'll go now," he said and left her to rest.

Ken entered his own room and geared up while simultaneously sending out chakra pulses over to J-Squad, telling them to rendezvous at a certain location. Suddenly, a loud crash from below caught the young ANBU's attention and he ran down the stairs with his sidearm unholstered, only to find two men holding down Tsunami, trying to kidnap her. Ken instantly fired two shots into their heads, killing them without them even knowing. "Sorry for the mess, Tsunami-san!" he yelled as he exited the house.

He moved as fast as his legs could take him and mentally berated himself for not working hard enough to make the car functional.

As he arrived, Ken stayed far away and observed the situation. On the far, unfinished side, were his and his brother's teams with Tazuna while directly across them were hundreds, if not a couple of thousand thugs, bandits, mercenaries, and even missing-nin that were battling with the Konoha ninja. Sasuke and Kakashi kept spouting fire jutsu to keep the lot of them at bay and Naruto kept making shadow clones to fight them while Hinoko fired off her chakra needles. But even with that, he could clearly see how outnumbered they were. His comrades might've been stronger, but with this many people, they had a slim chance of coming out unscathed.

"Fucking hell," Ken cursed silently, realizing what he had to do. He wasn't planning on bringing this out so early. More testing still needed to be done but… Desperate times, desperate measures.

Ken created three shadow clones and handed each of them an assault rifle. "You guys know what to do?"

Of course, they did. They were him. "Pick off the ones that escape," one answered.

With a nod, Ken was off. He went away from the bridge a little bit and jumped onto the water where J-Squad was waiting for him. "Three on each side of the bridge! Pick off anyone who jumps and tries to escape!" he shouted his orders and took off running without him even waiting to hear their reply.

Ken ran faster than ever before and made it to the unfinished end of the bridge at the exact moment Hinoko was blown off the bridge by a strong wind style jutsu, courtesy of one of the missing-nin that was hired by Gato.

Hinoko closed her eyes and held her breath as she fell… but the cold water she was expecting never touched her. Instead, she opened her eyes, only to see two striking violet orbs staring into her own. "Wha…?" she said.

"Beautiful girls falling from the sky? Looks like the weather forecast was wrong," he said with a chuckle.

"KEN!" Hinoko exclaimed happily.

"Hey, Hinoko. Let's get back up there, shall we?" Ken asked and put her down on her feet.

"Yeah, we need the help," she replied and they both climbed up the side of the pillar.

"Nii-san!" Naruto said with a grin.

"Naruto! Catch!" Ken said as he climbed onto the bridge properly.

Naruto looked back only to see a huge-ass LMG come flying at him. "WHA! What the hell!? You serious bro?"

"You know how to use it! Get to work!" Ken yelled out with a grin.

Naruto's face mirrored his brother as he laid down and loaded up the gun. "Take this!" he shouted. Naruto pulled the trigger and opened fire. The hot lead bullets cut through enemies like a knife through butter.

"SHIT!" the bandits and mercenaries shouted. "Get behind cover!" They ran backwards, trying to hide behind the huge concrete blocks that were yet to be placed under the bridge. "What the hell is that thing!?" one guy yelled out. "No idea! It's like a death machine!" another one answered.

Naruto shouted back, "And STAY behind cover!"

Ken grinned as he unravelled a scroll and took out his first test model of the M134 minigun.

"Oh shit…" Tsubaki and Kakashi spoke at the same time as they saw the huge weapon. Even though they had no idea about its capabilities, they had a pretty good hunch.

"Fuck you, and your cover," Ken spoke calmly and squeezed.

 **BRRRRRRRRRRRRT** the gun sounded and mowed down the resistance. Heads flew off bodies. Blood decorated the road. bodies were split in half. Limbs were strewn apart. Ken let go of the trigger for a couple of seconds to let the minigun cool off before squeezing again. **BRRRRRRRRRRRRT** it sounded once more.

Even Naruto had stopped firing at this point, opting to only look at the absolute slaughter the bridge had become. Somewhere in the background, he could hear Tazuna, Sasuke, and Hinoko empty their bellies. Hell, he himself had some bile rising to his throat. "Oh…" he covered his mouth. "Oh god…" That's was correct. What sort of ungodly power was this?

 **BRRRRRRRRRRRRT** it began again, tearing apart even the concrete blocks this time. The bandits started to flee, only to be cut down by Ken's shadow clones from the back and J-Squad from the sides. **BRRRRRRRRRRRRT** hot lead rained again. **BRRRRRRRRRRRRT** and again. **BRRRRRRRRRRRRT** and again… until it finally came to an end. Tsubaki and Emi covered their mouths while Kakashi regretted having his Sharingan eye open during the battle.

"No," Kakashi said to himself, but still loud enough to be heard by everyone else. "This wasn't a battle. It was a massacre, plain and simple."

* * *

So, what do y'all think? Like it? Dislike it?

Please review!


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